Lack of Motivation
by HarbingerLady
Summary: Naruto has made an agreement with sandaime. How will Naruto act as Leaf shinobi when he hate Konoha and its people? Chapter 22, The Battle Royale
1. Part One

**Disclaimer: **as I said before in my other fics, Naruto isn't mine. I only own the plotline for _my_ own fic.

**Author's Note: **I noted that since I posted my fics to I rarely made a chapter in 1 attempt and it was hard for me to think of a new idea for fanfiction. That was because I used my time to reply your reviews instead of writing. Because of that I decided to only answer questions that interest me. Don't worry, I still read your reviews and was very happy to receive them. So keep review my fics!

Part One 

Fail Attempt on Failing The Genin Exam

It was usual day in Konoha. Birds chirping, people sauntered on the village, and shinobis doing their whatever duties. This day in particular building, a group of children and a man with a slashed scar across his face were doing something. This building was the ninja academy where young children trained since they were thought grown enough to handle shinobis' training. And at that particular moment the man who was apparently the teacher looked irritated and annoyed at a blond haired student who looked as if nothing was wrong in the world. On his side was 2 horribly half-done bunshins.

"Naruto, you fail!" he barked out. Most of the students there laughed at the boy except a lone dark haired child named Uchiha Sasuke who remained as stoic as ever to the outside world.

"Hai, hai," replied the indifferent boy still looking uninterested. "May I back to my seat now, Iruka-sensei?" even before he answered the boy named Naruto went back to his seat and plopped his leg on the table across him, looking at the ceiling bored out of his wits. The young teacher wanted to scold him for being so nonchalant, but at last kept it to himself. He was very worried of that boy. Naruto was the container of Kyuubi, the very demon who killed his family and thus making him an orphan. At first he despised the boy just like the other villagers were, but then he started to have a change of heart after he observed the cold indifferent blond boy. From what he knew, before Naruto entered the academy he was a very bright loudmouthed boy who has probably a bundle of hidden energy somewhere for his hyperactivity to gain people's attention. But then 5 years ago, when he was only 7 years old, the bright personality ceased to exist. His grin changed into frown, and he no longer craved for attention, instead he became such a closed shelled boy that he or anyone for that matter, couldn't reach. He didn't try to make friends with children of his age or other ages for that matter. Infact he tends to avoid any human contact as much as possible. The boy was practically shut himself from the world.

Naruto always performed barely passed ability, but the young teacher thought that he could do more than that. The boy didn't seem to care if he would graduate or not and just dosed off on his lessons. Iruka wanted to graduate him just to see that once cheerful boy, but he knew he couldn't do that, so he was forced to fail Naruto for the 4th times.

Naruto was looking at nothing despite him staring at the ceiling above him. He might look nonchalant about it, but actually he was cheering inwardly. He made it. It was success. He will not become a genin. He wanted to become stronger, sure…but being an official genin of the leaf meant that he pledged allegiance toward the very village where everyone gave him cold stares and hatred for something that he didn't do. Why should he become a shinobi if he had to protect the very village he despised? He hated this village and the villagers, and failing his genin exam was the best thing to do. Afterall it was fairly easy. He only needed to twist his bunshin to make them appeared dead and blotched up and the teacher would fail him. The only reason he was attending the exam in the first place was just because Sandaime threatened to cut half of his allowance if he didn't come to his exam, just like what he had, every times the genin exam was held. _Stupid old man, _he growled mentally.Well, he only said to come to academy not to do well in genin exam, so there.

Practicing the fire jutsu he got (or rather, demanded) from his tenant, Naruto looked up when his sensitive ears picked up the sound of fighting. Curiosity got the better off him, he neared the source only to find Iruka and his other sensei he didn't like, Mizuki, were battling against each other. The favour went to Mizuki though. He wondered what the hell happened there.

"Give the scroll back, Mizuki!" Iruka ordered, but the said person just laughed.

"With this scroll I would be unbeatable. And I'll be stronger than Hokage himself," Naruto raised an eyebrow before rolling his eyes.

_I see…another power hungry human, figures. Human are so predictable. _He scoffed. He saw Mizuki slashed Iruka's shoulder with a poisoned kunai—judging from its sick green color on its tip and the smell that nothing but a very sensitive nose could smell. Should he help him? But if he did, he would help Konoha, something that he didn't want to do. His decision made when his sensei dropped to the ground breathing hard as the poison started to effect his body and Mizuki stood before him, kunai readied to strike.

_He better appreciate this, or I'll be the one who castrate him afterwards_. Naruto grumbled. The man didn't deserve to die, he was rather different than others who only saw him as Kyuubi and that got him on his few 'OK people' list.

With his blurry eyes, Iruka looked up and saw Mizuki's kunai brought down to him. _So this is it…I'll die…_ he closed his eyes waiting for the inevitable. The sound of kunais clanged snapped him out of his mind. He watched another person protected him. 'Anbu…thank God,' but he was proven wrong when Mizuki realized who he was.

"Uzumaki…" he growled in distaste.

"…Naruto?" he asked in disbelief. Now that he thought about it, the person was too short to be an adult and there was no one ever made an anbu at such young age after Itachi.

"You son of a bitch! How dare you ruin my plan!"

"Whatever," the boy snorted. Mizuki wanted to retort something, but as if something struck his mind, he started to laugh, making the boy before him wondered whether he was out of his rocker.

"Ku, ku, hku. Do you ever wonder about why the villagers hate you, boy?"

"Mizuki, don't!" Iruka cried out, but Mizuki laughed harder, making the blond boy rolled his eyes.

"You—"

"Save your breath, I have known about it since I was a child, moron," he smirked at the shocked faces from both people. "Now, why don't we finish it?" he smiled maliciously than sent shivers to Mizuki.

"Y-you know why they hate you?" a tone of disbelief came out of his voice.

"Of course I know. What do you think I am? Stupid?"

"Then you know that you're a demon!" the scroll thief snarled.

"Hardly. The thing inside of me is the demon, I'm only its container, there is a difference," Naruto yawned much to his irate. "Now, could we finish it? I want to have a warm bath after this." Gritting his teeth, Mizuki dashed with kunai on his hand.

"Naruto!" Iruka shouted. The boy stood there doing nothing, only eyeing the traitor lazily. He yawned once more, hands still on his pockets. In the last moment when the kunai almost connected with his chest where his heart resided, Naruto simply sidestepped and brought his knee to the surprised Mizuki right on his stomach, giving him a heavy blow. Before the man could recover Naruto brought his leg and stroke his back neck making him kissed the ground and let out a muffled yell of pain.

"Is this all you can do? You said that you will be stronger than Hokage, but honestly seeing your condition right now I could say that that won't happen to a weakling like you. A chuunin got beaten by a mere genin. Ha! What a laugh!" Naruto smirked as he placed his foot above the man's head. He back-flipped to a branch to avoid a kunai from Mizuki whose dirty face was red from rage. "Oops, did I bruise your ego?" he chuckled. Iruka was gaping at the sight of it. Was this person really Naruto? If he was, the boy really did a good job hiding his real power.

"YOU MONSTER!"

Naruto sighed in annoyance. "Haven't we already established that issue? You don't need to shout that loud. I'm not deaf, you know?"

Roaring, Mizuki lashed out 5 kunais to his direction only to meet with empty air, as Naruto dodged them like it was the easiest thing to do in the world.

"My, my. What a feisty temper you have. You really need to keep in check with your temper," he taunted and it worked.

"SHUT UP, DEMON!" he charged blindly. Naruto sighed at the blatant stupidity act. Why couldn't he get a better opponent, someone that was more challenging? He held Mizuki's wrist that gripped the kunai, and using the momentum he swung his body to a nearby tree right on his face.

_SMACK!_

"Eugh… That seems quite hurt," he waited for a moment, but he didn't give an indication of being conscious. He turned his attention to his slackjawed sensei. "What? No 'thanks' at all?" he smirked. "Oh well, you could handle the situation now, right?" he started to turn.

"Naruto, wait! Come here," he said feeling the poison still inside his system. Quirking a quizzical eyebrow the boy complied. "Close your eyes."

"You're not gonna try to kill me, right? Because I tell you that it won't work," Iruka shook his head. Sighing, he closed his eyes. He felt him fastened something on his forehead. Blood was drained from his face. It couldn't be…

"Congratulation, Naruto. You passed as a genin!" the blonde boy was as white as a sheet and he looked horrified.

"NANIIIIII!" the shout rang from the forest and scared birds away.

TBC… …

Poor Naruto, he doesn't want to become a genin of Konoha. Now, he really regretted his choice of helping Iruka. Te he he. Btw, I won't update my fics for some time. I have test for 2 weeks (I think).


	2. Part Two

**Disclaimer: **I own the plot only.

**Author's Note: **I wonder if I'm out of my mind. I have a test and yet here I am, in front of my computer writing this fic.

Part Two 

1st impression

"AAAAAAARRRRRH!" Naruto swipe all of the things on his kitchen table in anger. They were thrown to the wall and broke into pieces, much to his delight. He really needed to vent his anger.

Everything went wrong. It went wrong because of a stupid teacher that didn't know what he really wanted!

He punched the wall and made a small crater there. His knuckles bruised at the force but in second, the wound vanished leaving an unmarred skin. Kyuubi healed him.

"Thanks, furball," he smirked and then paused. "Yeah, I guess I am a baka (idiot) afterall," he frowned. "Tell him? How in the hell I tell him if right now he was in coma. I didn't even have the time to reject it when he just fainted there." Silent. "Che, just leave me alone," he muttered and plopped down on his bed, sighing. "Whatever, I won't come to academy. To hell with them" He closed his eyes and drifted off to dreamland.

**Ninja** **Academy**

The students were chatting happily. Today they would be real genins. They didn't care that Uzumaki Naruto didn't come. Afterall only the ones who passed the test should come today. They turned around when the door banged open. All talking ceased to exist when they stared at an unfamiliar face.

A black haired woman came in. Her eyes darted over them and she sent them a nasty smirk that gave them shivers. Her hair was short, and she wore a trench coat. She looked scary and intimidating.

"Since Umino-san is currently ill, he won't be here now. Hokage-sama asked me to substitute him today. My name is Anko, and you would do well if you listen me or I won't be…nice," she licked her lips and there was a scary glint in her eyes. The students gulped at her threat. They nodded hastily. Anko smiled. "Good, good."

She sat on the teacher desk and opened a folder. She took out a paper out of it. She scanned it and smirked before looking up again at the students.

"Team 1: Nakai Yuma, Reikou Tobe, and Uematsu Takeha," she then continued with team 2 and at last she called team 7. "Team 7: Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke," a loud cheer from the pink haired girl was quickly shut up by Anko's deadly glare. She meekly sat on her seat, but not before giving off a victorious smile at a blonde girl who scowled. "And the other is Uzumaki Naruto. Team—"

"Matte (wait) Anko-san, Uzumaki didn't pass the exam," Sakura interrupted.

"Don't interrupt me girl!" she winced. "It was decided that he passed. Now shut up before I make you!"

"H-hai. Gomennasai! (Y-yes. I'm sorry)"

"Team 8: Aburame Shino, Hyuuga Hinata, Inuzuka Kiba. Team 9: Amane Haruki, Haneda Naru, Sanada Yukime. Team 10: Nara Shikamaru, Ino, Chouji (AN: I'm sorry, but I forget their surnames. I tried to remember it, but it was no use). Team 11: Hanamaru Ichigo, Furuhara Kaiki, and lastly Hino Seiji. That's all. Your jounin will soon pick you up here," the nasty woman exited the classroom.

The new genins were grouping on 3-men teams, all except team 7. The pink haired girl chatted happily to her crush, ignoring the fact that he looked irritated with her attitude. They were waiting for their jounin to show up. All other teams were already picked up, but their jounin was late. Sakura, tired of talking non-stop to unresponsive Sasuke, just looked at the ceiling. 2 hours later a silver haired jounin with a mask on his face came in. His left eye (AN: sharingan was in Kakashi's left eye, wasn't it?) was covered by his Leaf hitae-ate.

"Yo, I'm sorry I'm late. There was a drown cat in a river and I helped it," the genins starred at his dry clothes before they looked up, clearly not convinced with his story. "Are, where is your other teammate?" He blinked and looked around.

"He didn't come. Stupid blond boy," Sakura muttered the last part.

"Hm…then we just have to pick him up," he took a paper from his pocket and read something on it. "Come on, guys," they followed their jounin-sensei.

"Well, here is it," they glanced at Naruto's flat. "He's on 2nd flo—" he hasn't even finished his talking when the pink haired girl rushed to 2nd floor, intending to give the blond genin a piece of her mind. "Well…" he looked at his other charge. "She seemed to be in rush," Sasuke only grunted and crossed his arms.

"UZUMAKIIIII!" she shouted loudly. Kakashi and Sasuke heard pounding sounds from upstairs before it was followed by a shriek. Locking their eyes, both jounin and his charge darted to where Sakura was.

Both of them raised an amused eyebrow when they saw her state. She was hanging down with a rope catching one of her ankle. She was covered with sticky goop and feathers. The girl shrieked at her state, especially when her crush saw it.

The door of Naruto's flat opened by its irritated owner. "SHUT UP! Don't you know that it's rude to disturb someone else's peace!"

"RELEASE ME AT ONCE, YOU INSUFFERABLE MANGY BlONDE IDIOT!" she yelled.

"And why should I do that, pinky?"

"PINKY! I'll show you that—"

"Maa, maa, why don't we resolve this with peace," Naruto and Sakura stared at him as if he has grown 2 heads.

"Who're you anyway? And what are you doing here?"

"I'm your jounin-sensei, here to pick you up for our genin team's 1st meeting," Naruto scowled darkly.

"Well, you waste your time then," then he suddenly smirked. "Have fun," he said when suddenly a barrage of kunais shot up from the roof. Kakashi and Sasuke who was beside the older man, quickly jumped back. The sharp weapons hit the floor where they were seconds ago.

"Not good enou—" just as he said that the floor beneath him cracked and he almost fell if not for his quick reflex. Unfortunately for Sasuke, he was too late to react for it and fell with the floor. They heard a loud crash and Sakura yelled in fear for her Sasuke-sama. A moment later the dark haired boy jumped from the hole with a scowl plastered on his face. His body was covered with white flour from head to toe. The Uchiha avenger looked murderously at Naruto who simply raised an eyebrow and smirked.

"My first impression on you, is that…I don't like you," Kakashi stated.

Naruto smirked darkly. "Oh, don't worry. The feeling is quite mutual," his eyes glinted.

TBC…

Short, but oh well. I want to post chapter 2 as soon as I can. Review, please.

**Q: Naruto acted like Shikamaru?**

**A:** Actually, Naruto wasn't like the lazy Nara at all. He just didn't want to be bothered. Beside he liked to train. He just didn't think that the villagers worth his time.

Q: Don't make him to have super power so suddenly 

**A: **I don't have any intention to do so. He's not smart like Sakura, but you have to admit that he's creative. I just make him have more devious mind than the original. He's skilled in making traps. I will make limit on his power, but I have to think about what limit I will make for him. Give me time, and I'll make up something. And also he's not invincible. He has his flaws. He's not patient in some things/ situation.

Q: What is exactly Naruto's relationship with Kyuubi? 

**A: **They made a deal that would benefit both of them. Let's just say they tolerate each other and will work together for a cause.

Q: Naruto didn't want to become a ninja? 

**A: **Actually he liked being a shinobi, it's just that he didn't want to become Konoha's ninja.

Q: Why didn't he tell Iruka that he didn't want to become Konoha's genin? 

**A: **Iruka passed out before he could say anything, and he was currently in coma and treated by medic-nins who tried to take out the poison from his blood system. And because of that, Naruto was pissed off. Even if he was angry with him, he has an honour to not attack defenseless people.

Thanks to **Yum2:), pupuru, Blackmamuth, Sierra-Falls, Wolfgirl13, Rablagon, wolvesmOon, agent spielplatz, Narutofreak22, HanaTenshiHimeko, kae, The-Rogue-Otaku, starry096, Ryuchi, nonengel, dapster, insanechildfanfic, HikaruOfDreams, Sealunis, Aje-chan.**

**Ryuchi: **yeah, I still need a beta


	3. Part Three

**Disclaimer: **Naruto isn't mine

**Author's Note: **… … … … … I don't have anything to say… just read!

**Omake:**

Sandaime gazed at the boy he was fond of sternly. "Naruto, I want you to attend the genin exam, and that's final!"

"Doushite (why)? I'm not interested in becoming a genin," the blond boy replied back without missing a beat.

"I know, but I still want you to attend it"

"I refuse," he said stubbornly.

"Then I'll just have to cut your allowance!" the old Hokage shouted victoriously as he saw the disbelieved look.

"EEEHHHHHH? That's not fair, old man!" Naruto snapped, but he only smirked.

"Fair or not, you still have to attend the exam," he said boldly.

Naruto opened his mouth, but then closed it again when he bowed his head and stayed silent. Sandaime hoped that he didn't crush the boy.

"…6th…drawer…book," he heard him mumbled.

He blinked. "What did you say, Naruto?"

"3rd shelf…5th…from right…"

"Huh?" his eyebrow rose as he struggled to hear what the Kyuubi container muttered.

Naruto looked up. His eyes were filled with a dark glint and he was grinning from ear to ear. Sandaime didn't like his expression a bit.

"I said: the 6th cupboard from right, inside the 2nd drawer from below, beneath a journal book. And then another in the 3rd shelf, behind 5th book from right," sandaime's face paled. Naruto smirked maliciously. "Do you want to hear about the other places? What about… beneath the floor below your table, and then behind the 2nd—"

"How did you know it?" the old man asked in panic.

"Know what?" he asked as innocent as he could. The old man wasn't fooled a bit.

"Know the locations of _them_!"

"Well, that's a secret!" He inclined his head to his right and grinned wider. "Old man, you're such a pervert. To think that you have a full collection of _that_ kind of book. I wonder what will happen if your daughter hear it," he said the last part in singsong tone.

Sandaime gulped. He clenched his fist. "Fine, what do you want?" he asked with raspy and strained voice.

Jiraiya's student's son crossed his arms and sat on his desk, tapping on the surface. "Now, why did you think I want something?" the old man glared fiercely, making the blond ninja academy's student chuckled. "Oh fine. Man, you're not fun! Hm…if you want to bribe me…what about you doubling my allowance?" he smirked as he gazed at his eyes unblinkingly.

They stared for 5 minutes in a staring battle which was lost by Hokage.

"Fine…just… go away!" he huffed. Naruto exited the office with a renewed happiness. "How did I get in this mess again?" he took off his hat and then banged his head on the nearest wall, frustrated at being defeated with a simple blackmail, by a mere child no less!

End o-O 

**Part Three**

Likes, Dislikes, Dream

"Otto," Naruto tilted his head to his right to avoid a punch from Sakura. "You should pay attention on where you aim your punch, pinky" he taunted the irritated girl.

"SHANAROOOOO! Stop dodging, you coward!" she swipe the floor beneath him only to have the blond boy doing a backflip and landed 3 meters from her.

"Then you should stop your assault, and I will stop dodging. You should be thankful that I release your leg from the rope," he looked amused at the feathers and goop-covered girl.

"Maa, maa, both of you should stop. We don't have all day, you know?" the silver haired jounin flipped a page from his orange book.

Naruto snorted. "Who said that I agree to go with you?" he challenged.

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"Let's start with introduction first, such as your name, likes, dislikes, and your dream. Pink haired girl, you first!" Kakashi pointed at the now clean girl.

"Sensei, we don't know anything about you. Why don't you start first!" she replied.

"Me? Hm… my name is Hatake Kakashi. What I like is none of your business. My dislike is…well that's none of your business too. My dream is…" he trailed off, "Now you, girl!"

"What we get from him is only his name," Sakura muttered to Sasuke, who didn't reply back. "My name is Haruno Sakura, I like…" she peeked to Sasuke and then blushed. "My dream is to be…" she looked again at the dark haired boy. Then she scowled, "I used to dislike Ino, but now I hate Uzumaki more," she glared at the boy who merely yawned. Her anger rose to the point that made her face as red as boiled crab. Smoke could be seen came out of her ears. Kakashi sweatdropped.

"The one with black hair, your turn!"

"Uchiha Sasuke. I don't have any likes, but I have a lot of dislikes. I don't care much for hobbies, and I don't have a dream, it's more like a goal. My ultimate goal is to kill a certain man and to resurrect my clan."

"Hm… Blonde, your turn," he pointed to the last genin.

"…You should have known about me from my data, so I don't see the point of introducing myself."

"Well, your data only shows about your official information. And you need to introduce yourself to your teammate so they know you better."

"Who said that I want them to know me better?" he smirked. "Ma… I don't think a bit of information will hurt me. Uzumaki Naruto. I like to be left alone. I don't like to be surrounded by idiots. You don't need to know about my dream," he stated.

_Great! _Kakashi wanted to roll his eyes. _Hokage-sama wanted me to teach a team that consists of love-struck girl, an avenger, and a troublemaker. What a day! If not because the Uchiha boy would most likely angered and do something foolish if he doesn't pass as a genin, and Naruto…Arashi-sensei, what should I do to your cold-hearted son?_ Kakashi wanted to bang his head to the nearest wall, feeling quite frustrated. _Maa…even if Hokage-sama asked me to pass them, it will be fun to see them sweat up a bit._ With that in his mind, the fourth's pupil turned to his genins.

"Well, now that we're properly introduced, I want you to meet me in training field 7. We will have survival training tomorrow."

"Eh? Demo (but) sensei, we have already done that in academy," Sakura asked, feeling quite confused at what he said.

"This isn't the normal survival training," Kakashi smiled, but there was something that made the girl uneasy seeing that smile.

"What kind of training is it, then?" she asked. The jounin chuckled. "What's funny, Kakashi-sensei?" she fumed.

"Maa… it's just that when you guys hear this, you're definitely gonna flip," this earned him confused look from team 7 (except Naruto). "Out of thirty three graduates (AN: I made that there are 11 teams, and each has 3 students, remember?) only nine will be chosen as a genin. The rest will be sent back to the academy," Naruto's eyes lit up at the obviously good news (for him, at least).

"EEEEEHHHHHHH!" the only girl in the team yelled in shock and disbelief. Even Sasuke's jaw clenched. "B-but, we have already graduated as genins!" she protested.

Kakashi shook his head. "That's only the 1st part of the test, the 2nd part is a test that consist of whatever the jounin instructor decided," the big forehead girl wanted to cry here and there when she heard it. Sasuke frowned while Naruto smirked. "I advice you not to eat breakfast or you might puke tomorrow. Dismissed!" with that he disappeared from their eyes.

Naruto stood up and jumped down from the roof and then ran back to his flat, leaving the other two alone still stood frozen on their place.

He opened his door and went to the kitchen where his refrigerator stood. Opening it, he opened a can of milk and drank it. He wiped his mouth and smirked maliciously.

"I can't wait to see you survive _my_ survival training, sen-sei" he said the last part wickedly.

TBC…

I decide to make every chapter short, so I can update it sooner. Don't flame me for that! The omake is pretty long. It was even half of the real story length! Now, review!

Thanks to the ones who reviewed my story! I can't believe I got so many (almost 50) reviews just with 2 short chapters. Not even my other fics that were definitely longer got that many with just 2 chapters.

I'll reply your reviews on the next chapter!


	4. Part Four

**Disclaimer: **Not mine, not mine, not mine. AAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHH! Screw that! It is MIIINNNNNNNNNEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

**Author's Note: **Well, I decided to humour Kakashi in the next chap. For now I want to prank Sasuke and Sakura. Hope you'll like it! Warning, flame my grammar and I'll stuck a kunai up on your ass, complete with an explosive tag! I'm a bit stressed after I'm finished with one of the stupid test, so I'm quite snappish! I don't want to read that. I got enough of them from my other fics and was quite frustrated for having to explain about my lack ability in grammar every time. I'll fix the grammar when a beta edits the story. _Phiuh_… Now that I have let out my frustration (_ah…the joy!_), you can read.

Part Four 

When Sasuke arrived on training field 7, he didn't expect to see Sakura dumped on a 2 meters deep-hole acting like a scared rabid dog. There were tears on her eyes, and she didn't seem to see him outside. The pink haired girl tried to climb the hole frantically to no avail. Her mind didn't work at all. He wondered what happened to her that made her acted like that. There was nothing inside that hole and she acted like ghosts swarmed her. Apparently she even forgot how to jump. 2 meters wasn't deep at all. Only untrained academy student couldn't climb that.

"Bugs… bugs…Ahhhhhhh! Get away from me!" she shrieked. He blinked.

There are no bugs inside that hole… Then something clicked inside his mind. Genjutsu!

He contemplated whether he needed to help her or not…He scratched his head and sighed. As much as he disliked her, if he didn't help her there was a possibility that she would end at mental institution after this. And he didn't want her parents killed him for not helping their daughter before he could avenge his families' deaths.

"Oey, Haruno, catch my hand," he didn't want to jump inside, not wanting to know what his number 1 crazy fangirl would do to him if he did that, so he only offered his hand to the girl.

She looked up terrified when she heard his voice and then screamed very loudly that he had to withdraw his hands to cover his eardrums as he cringed at the shrilly-loud voice.

"Stay away! Stay away from me, you disgusting piece of slimy worm!" Sasuke gaped. Sakura ran to the otherside while waving her hand to swipe the imaginary bugs that swarmed her before. Apparently she was more terrified of him than the bugs.

A vein popped on his forehead. Slimy worm? That BITCH! He has lowered himself to help her and she dared to call him THAT! He stood up and walked away, gritting his teeth. Now, he really hoped that she would end at the mental institution, so she could never bother him anymore.

Just as he walked 3 steps from the hole, a rope caught his left ankle and pulled him up. Sasuke widened his eyes. He quickly took a kunai and slashed the rope that caught him before landing on the ground. The moment his left feet touched the ground, it gave away, and he, Uchiha Sasuke, for the 2nd time in 2 days fell into a hole.

He almost groaned when he realized this, but caught himself remembering that he was the last and heir of the respected Uchiha clan.

He grabbed the edge of the hole and sighed, while wondering just what was the hissing sound below. He climbed and when he was already outside he looked down into the hole and widened his eyes when he saw just what was making the hissing sound.

Snakes…as in snakes, reptilians with no legs, slimy, with 2 divided tongue in the end, and of course not to forget that some of them were poisonous. He shuddered when he realized what would happen to him if he fell in the hole. He vowed to never ever have a deal with snake in the future! (AN: ah, the irony. Don't you think so?) Too bad for him he didn't notice that it was only genjutsu and that there was nothing inside the hole beside sticky goop.

Deciding that the ground was dangerous, the dark haired genin leaped to the nearest branch only to slip because of some slippery liquid someone (_wink wink_) applied there. He balanced his body, but not before he felt something snapped. Just as he touched the ground (while hoping that there won't be any hole anymore) 10 kunais shot up at his direction. He deflected 8 that would get him if he didn't do something, while he let the other 2. Unfortunately for him those 2 kunais weren't meant for him, but for 2 transparent strings that were attached to another trap. 2 giant logs were swinging at him. Sasuke reached for 2 kunais and sliced the ropes that held them. Too bad for him that the maker of this so-called trap has anticipated this. One of the logs landed on the end of a well-covered plank. And as it was heavy, the other end of the plank came upwards and launched the thing that was put there. A tied bag was thrown to him. It was not over however, when the other log set off another trap and a barrage of kunai launched and destroyed the bags. The content of the bag was poured out. White flour was all he saw and not wanting to repeat the same thing as yesterday, Sasuke leaped to his right… Only to have himself blocked by an invisible object that was obviously covered by genjutsu. He was too late to avoid the flour now and he could only turned his back so his face wouldn't be covered by it.

Grumbling he turned again when he was sure that it was over. His eyes twitched when he felt like his back needed to be scratched thoroughly. He scratched his back, but the itchy feeling didn't leave him, instead it became worse. His eyes widened in rage when he realized what the flour was. It was itching powder! He gritted his teeth and swore that if he ever found out the one who built this trap, he would torture him!

Heading to the nearest water source he knew off, a nearby small river, Sasuke refrained his hand to scratch his back, hands, head and legs. He was cursing all the way. He had to face off against some simple kunai and shuriken traps that he easily disposed. His desperation to get rid of the itches motivated him to move faster than his usual max speed. He was really glad when he saw the blue color of water in distance. He looked up in alert when he felt himself stepped on something that would most likely trigger a trap. Much to his relief, there was nothing barreled up on him. His relief was short-lived however, when a rain of kunais with some of them holding explosive tags launched toward him. His eyes widened.

The sound of explosion rang throughout the training field 7 and beyond that. The people who trained on field 4-10 whirled their heads in shock, stopping their activities, they were trying to find the source of the earthquake and the abnormally loud sound of explosions. Yes, explosions, not explosion. Apparently the explosives set each other off and made a series of blasts.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH THIS PLACE!" A scream of frustration was heard throughout the forest.

Naruto opened his eyes lazily. A smirk plastered on his face. Judging from its sound, the Uchiha heir was in the 1st layer of the trap field he built. He chuckled wondering when the boy would pass through all 3 layers and arrived at the designed point, which where he was right now.

He wondered what happen to the pink haired kunoichi. He was sure that he has heard her terrified shriek and knew that she was caught in genjutsu trap on the 1st layer. He hoped that her mind didn't snap and she became crazy because of severe trauma.

Now…if only the annoying jounin appeared…

Deep inside him, he heard the fox laughed at his mischief while giving him advice and ideas to enhance his traps. Naruto grinned mischievously.

"Nah, I just want to prank them, not killing them off," he rejected the ideas, although he stored them for later use.

TBC…

Sasuke thought that it was a trap left by the previous people used the training field 7 and even maybe Kakashi who said that he would give them survival test, and not Naruto. He has a suspicion that Naruto was the one who built the trap, but didn't want to admit that he was being bested by the 'dobe', and so he pushed that suspicion out of his mind.

**Reply:**

**Aje-chan:** well, yeah, English isn't my native language. It is not used daily in my country. Actually from what I gathered it is only used for business with people from other countries that used English. My junior and senior high school's English teachers didn't really cover much about grammar. So it was easy to understand that I suck at tenses, especially tenses like: past perfect continuous, etc that extremely confused me. I developed my writing skill from reading other fics, and you know that not all fics have good grammar…There isn't any writing school around (at least from what I know), not to mention that to attend that kind of school I need money, something that was a bit tight for me. Beside, I only write fanfiction for fun.

**Anime-game-freak:** Bloodline limit for Naruto? I didn't plan to make him have that. But I plan to have him know about shunshin no jutsu that his father (yondaime) has. That jutsu doesn't require bloodline, does it? I'm not too sure… I haven't read manga till the chapters about his father. Heck, Naruto manga in my country has only reached volume 13 (in the final chuunin exam, fight between Gaara and Sasuke) and still continuing.

**antiassasinguy: **I have read Naruto! Greatest Hero

**blazer-6: **no pairings in mind. Too lazy to write about romance

**G Man:** thanks for the info. I have remembered Chouji's surname after I posted the 2nd chap, but I still forgot Ino's surname.

Hitomi No Ryu: well actually I have many more ideas for fanfiction. There are about 70 including the ideas that I have written in I posted so many titles since my first attempt because I didn't want anyone posting fanfiction with similar idea to mine before I could post my own fic. You could say that I'm selfish or anything, but I like to know that my ideas are original. For my fics that were similar with other people's fics, I wrote that because I am interested to write those. 

**Kitsune-Itai: **I like the idea where Naruto annoyed the other members of team more, than got him off of that team. Actually it was the others that were miserable having Naruto as the member of team 7. It will be fun to see how Naruto tried to push their button O-O

**Mooneyoukai: **No, I haven't had someone beta this fic. **Ryuchi** has already offered to be a beta for me, but he hasn't sent the edited version.

**Ryuu Ken:** No, I didn't plan any pairing for this fic.

**simpleinsantiy: **oh, don't worry… I will. Ho ho ho ho ho! Just watch!

**TenshiKaitou: **what's the difference?

**The-Rogue-Otaku: **maybe, you're right. Well, I don't know… Let's just see the outcome!

**Yum2: **Can genin resign after he graduated? I thought that ninja could only retire when they couldn't perform any mission anymore because of their body is beyond repair, or if they're old. And sandaime didn't think of doing that. He leaved that problem of picking up Naruto to Kakashi. Let's just say that sandaime thought that Kakashi needed to be taught a lesson, and if the silver haired jounin annoyed Naruto, Hokage knew what the boy would do to him. So, really…he just happy to relieve the Naruto's problems and Kakashi and has fun watching them. I haven't finished my exam. Infact this Monday I got a big test.

**ZwngDragon: **No, he didn't have any.

Thanks to: **KunochiDreamer, insanechildfanfic, shina-lim, Akram Hellfire Gibril, kae, starry096, wolvesmOon, Learson, Night-Owl123, misfit270, Morgri, anime gurl, Ryuchi, Ibozun, Mishibara, HikaruOfDreams, Sealunis, ryuu-nin, HanaTenshiHimeko, moonlightpath, Toki Mirage **(I write this reply when I got 60 something reviews, so for the ones not included there, I'll answer questions that interested me in the next chap)


	5. Part Five

**Part Five of Lack of Motivation**

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto

**Author's Note: **Here's part 5. Slightly longer than previous chapters, so enjoy! This is the edited version by **MingShun** and **Sabakugirl **and **HarbringerLady **(me of course). The update will be delayed. I'm not in the mood to write anything.

**Part Five**

Naruto impatiently drummed his fingers on the log he was sitting on. An hour had past since the meeting time Kakashi had set up. He had yet to show his face anywhere on training field 7. He would have either heard the man's screams or one of his foxes would have informed him of his arrival. Well at least Sasuke and Sakura will still providing ample amount of entertainment. Though the shouts, and explosions had stopped about 15 minutes ago. Were they just resting or were they giving up? It was so early in the game it would be very disappointing if they had given up, they were only in the second layer of traps after all.

Naruto raised an eyebrow when his fox informed him that Sasuke went to help Sakura for the second time. Apparently after Sasuke had finally gotten all the itching powder off and running into at least three more log traps that set off an assortment of others, he decided that he needed help to get out of here. Unfortunately for him the only other person around was Sakura, who had called him a slimy worm earlier that day today. The poor boy was all battered up, thanks to some holes he had covered up. After finally reaching Sakura he was able to cancel the genjutsu. Sakura became even giddier after her crush saved her, but she felt embarrassed and a little guilty when she remembered that she had called Sasuke a slimy worm.

Together, they were able to avoid many of the traps Naruto had set up. Unfortunately when they did accidentally trigger a trap, they often set off almost all of the traps that they had already past. And since the traps in 2nd layer were harder than in the 1st layer…well, you get the idea.

Naruto sighed happily as he removed a folder from his jacket. Life was so good. Naruto opened the folder and started to read. Inside the folder was all the information he was able to gather about the two who were stuck in the second layer of traps and a certain silver haired jounin.

Naruto agreed to come to the introductions so he could learn more about the people he was dealing with. He was willing to bet that if hadn't agreed to come with them then Hatake would have told Sandaime about it.

He already knew Sasuke's and Sakura's names but he didn't know anything about their lives. He hadn't known anything about the jounin until the meeting where he learned his name. And that was all he knew about them. Wanting to find out more about his teammates and his new sensei he created a shadow clone and had it henge into a middle-aged jounin. Naruto watched his clone walk past the guards that were supposed to be watching the building against any trespasser and it gathered the data he desired. Sometimes Naruto wanted to laugh at the lax security here in Konoha. They should have checked all the people who entered the building. His clone didn't even transform into any Konoha jounin, only relying on the Leaf hitae-ate and jounin vest for identification.

Kage-bunshin no jutsu. That was the name of the cool jutsu he used to get past the guards. He learned it while watching a jounin, who he didn't know, fight a group of bandits who had been found near Konoha's borders. With Kyuubi's guidance, he was able to successfully recreate the jutsu and was able to improve the clones a bit. Now his clones could withstand 4 hits before they would poof.

Naruto read Sakura's file next. It seemed that she came from a non-shinobi family. Besides the fact that she was an only child all the other information was either rubbish or thins Naruto already knew, so he went to the next file, Sasuke's.

Sasuke came from the Uchiha clan who made up the majority of Konoha's police force. The clan possessed a bloodline ability, a doujutsu called the Sharingan. The sharingan allowed members of the clan to copy jutsus and see through any genjutsu.

Hmm...Maybe he needed to research more about this so-called Sharingan.

Sasuke's father was the clan's leader. His mother retired from being shinobi after she married his father and Sasuke had a brother named Itachi. He raised an eyebrow and whistled when he read that Sasuke's clan was slaughtered by his own brother and he was one of the two survivors of the once proud Uchiha clan. Naruto tapped his chin. Was it his own brother that Sasuke wanted to kill?

Uchiha Itachi needed to be researched too.

Now for the last file that contained information about a certain sliver-haired jounin. Hatake Kakashi was the son of Konoha's White Fang who committed suicide because Konoha blamed him for the failure of a critical mission. Naruto shook his head sadly. This was another mistake Konoha had made. Kakashi's mother was the typical housewife. She died from an illness (AN: I don't know if this is true or not.) Kakashi became a jounin at a very young age, but remained with his genin team comprised of Uchiha Obito and Rin (AN: What's her surname?). They were under the guidance of...Kazama Arashi...

Naruto's jaw dropped. Kakashi was his late father's student? Now he wasn't expecting to find anything this shocking. Damn, he needed to read more about his father than just his techniques! He wondered whether Kakashi knew that he was his sensei's son. He wanted to ask the silver haired jounin about his father, but Kakashi would be most likely suspicious of him. He didn't want anyone to know that he knew that he was yondaime's son. He shook his head and continued to read.

"PS," he read it out loud. "Kakashi is also known in Konoha as the jounin with the greatest late record so far…WHAATTTTTTTTT!" Naruto shrieked. "He is known to be 2 hours later than the agreed time, so as a precaution for important missions, please tell him to come at least 3 hours before the designated time." Naruto closed his folder in annoyance. No wonder why the jounin hasn't shown up yet.

Naruto perked up when he heard an interesting comment Kyuubi.

"Punishment eh? Hmm...why not?" he replied.

Naruto smirked maliciously. The blonde opened the file once more and retrieved Kakashi's home address. Naruto got up and started to collect kunai and shuriken that had been used in the traps that had already been triggered, so he wouldn't need to buy more of them. He needed to buy another bag of itching powder, some wires, two gallons of brightly colored paint, and more explosive tags...well maybe not explosive tags... He wouldn't want to be sued for property damage by Kakashi. He could buy them anyway, for reserve, just in case he needed them later on.

Naruto thanked the Hokage for this. Believe it or not, the Third actually gave him an allowance for pranks. Of course, that wasn't without a promise, on the blonde's part. He wasn't allowed to damage any public property and not to prank the villagers. Even if he accidentally did, none of the clues should point to him. So far no one suspected him of those pranks. Almost everyone believed that it was the work of a group of hooligans because the pranks would occur in different places simultaneously. In the villager's' eyes he was a demon, and in the shinobis' eyes he was known as a demon or a boy who had not talent as a shinobi.

The only ones who knew that it was actually him, who did the pranks, were the Hokage, the insane woman named Anko who lust for blood, a guy named Shiranui Genma plus his sickly friend named Hayate-something and maybe the nasty head of Interrogation named Morino Ibiki. Thankfully they were all on his 'OK people' list. Well…maybe Anko wasn't too OK…she was crazy and bloodthirsty. Naruto remembered a prank suggestion that she had made. When he told the Third about it and asked if he could do it, the old man immediately yelled a 'NO!'. Too bad…her idea was very creative and he'd like to use it and maybe even improve it a 'bit'. He remembered that Kyuubi once told him that he liked that woman. Naruto only rolled his eyes knowing those 2 were bloodthirsty creatures.

50 meters from Kakashi's house, Kyuubi told him that the man wasn't in his house. Naruto smirked. He got into the house avoiding all of the traps and alarms inside. He even tinkered with some of those traps and alarms, improving them with his own and using them as he liked without triggering them. His clones arrived with what he needed and they started the real work. Naruto thanked whatever deity up there for letting him see the kage bunshin no jutsu that day. This jutsu was a real heaven's gift for a prankster and trap master like him. In just 5 minutes, they were done with the pranks. The 3-layered trap that he made in the training field 7 was made in an hour without him, only his 15 clones. He only needed to pour chakra for genjutsu since his clone wasn't advanced enough to use any genjutsu. The only ninjutsu they could do was henge at the moment, but he promised himself to improve them more. Having a demon sealed inside him was a curse, but also a blessing, especially when the said demon was Kyuubi, who had a _very_ devious mind. Not to mention that he had the intelligence and power to back it up. Kyuubi's only downsides were his arrogance and his tendency to underestimate anyone. That was how he ended inside his belly in the 1st place. He underestimated the Fourth and let him finished the seal because of his arrogance thinking that it wouldn't do anything to him. When he knew what happened, it was already too late.

"Shut up, fox. It was your own fault you let my father seal you inside me." Pause. "Hey, it wasn't my fault that my father chose me to become your vessel. In case you forgot, I wasn't able to say no at the time!" Naruto jumped from Kakashi's window after dismissing his 5 clones and ran toward training field 7 wondering whether Sasuke and Sakura had finished with the traps yet. "Geez, your arrogance is your own downfall," he snorted angrily. His relationship with the fox was kinda a love-hate relationship. Okay, maybe not love, because he would never ever love the demon who caused him trouble in the 1st place. Kyuubi hated him for what his father done, but he couldn't do anything now, so he decided that Naruto had to pay for it by wreaking havoc to the village. Naruto himself hated the fox because he was blamed for something he didn't' do, but the fox was his only chance to become stronger. Plus he also hated the villagers, so he didn't mind annoying them. They made a deal. Kyuubi wanted to have a strong vessel (a weak vessel would make the fox a laughable material in the demon realm and weak vessels had the tendency to suicide. Also, if Naruto died, so would Kyuubi, and he didn't want to die even if it meant he needed to train the boy whose father was the one who sealed him), Naruto wanted to become stronger. Kyuubi hated his father and Naruto also blamed his father for his misfortune. Both of them didn't like Konoha. They decided to work together.

It's been 5 years since Naruto found out about Kyuubi and communicated with him; that was their relationship then and still was even now. There was no love lost between them and it was this relationship that they were most comfortable with. They didn't need to like each other to work together. Survival was the most important thing for them.

Naruto found the trunk he had previously sat on. Taking a moment to sit down, he then put 2 fingers to his lips and then whistled without sound. No more than 30 seconds later, 5 small red foxes were sitting below him waiting for his instruction. He told 2 of them to search for Kakashi, 1 to search for Sakura and Sasuke and the other 2 to stay with him. He jumped down to the ground and sat below the tree and petting the purring foxes sitting on his stomach and to his side.

2 minutes later the red fox on his belly, a red fox with a black strip on its neck perked up. It paused for a second before it yipped. Naruto smiled. The fox he asked to search for Sasuke and Sakura had found them. He put his hand on the black-stripped red fox and closed his eyes. Images bombarded his brain.

Sasuke was bandaging the wounds he recently got. 2 meters across from him, Sakura was angrily trying to remove the mud that covered her strawberry-colored hair. Naruto smirked. He asked the fox on his belly to tell its friend, who had its eyes on both genins, to continue watching them. He withdrew his hand from it and laughed loudly.

He stopped when the fox on his left side yipped. His smirk grew wider. They have found the jounin. He placed his hand on its forehead and immediately saw Kakashi in his mind. The jounin was standing in front of a stone that Naruto remembered as the memorial monument reserved for shinobi that died on a mission or to put it simply: killed in action.

He wondered what he was doing frozen in front of the stone. Did the jounin have any friends whose name was carved there? One of the fox got closer, so Naruto could see the names. He thanked Kyuubi for his enhanced eyes. Naruto saw Obito's name there and realized that it was the same Obito that was his father's student.

He understood the implication, but growled when he decided that even if Kakashi used his sweet time for his dead friend, didn't mean that he needed to be late for everything just to remember his teammate. It wasn't professio—The heck! Why did he care about shinobi professionalism? He sure as hell didn't want to be Leaf shinobi, and if Kakashi wanted to be late for Leaf's meeting, that was good for him, wasn't it? Afterall it would be Konoha that got the blunt of his lateness.

Still…it was him now that was waiting for the annoying jounin!

Shaking his head, Naruto quickly sent 5 clones to reinforce the traps on the way between them. The jounin needed to be taught not to stay late when he was meeting with Naruto or the consequence would be dire.

30 minutes later, Sasuke and Sakura arrived. Dirty, wounded, torn clothes, angry and of course not to forget wounded pride in Sasuke's case.

"What happened to you? You look like as if you were mauled by wild beasts or something?" Naruto couldn't keep the amused expression off his face. The 2 whipped their heads in surprise, they hadn't detected his presence.

When Sakura saw his clean state, she was angry. "IT WAS YOU, WASN'T IT?" she bellowed.

"Me? It was me what?" he replied as innocently as he could.

"IT WAS YOU WHO SET THOSE FREAKING THINGS!" Sasuke glanced at them and then narrowed his eyes at the blonde.

"Why did you think I'm the one who built those traps?" he asked calmly, but his lips twitched, holding his laughter.

"SEE! YOU KNEW ABOUT THE TRAPS AND YOU DIDN'T TRIGGER THEM! THAT MEANS THAT YOU WERE THE ONE WHO BUILT THEM!" she yelled as loud as she could.

"Maybe it was you who couldn't avoid simple traps like tho—"

"SHUT UPPPPPPPP!"

"Okay," he shrugged in a way that infuriated her much more. With his 2 foxes in his hands, Naruto jumped higher on the tree to avoid her wrath. Good choice, because the pink haired girl was ready to kill him—not that she could, of course. She didn't seem to realize that Naruto had 2 red foxes with him, but Sasuke saw them and he stared at Naruto with an unreadable expression.

A loud surprised shriek sliced through the silence of the forest, quickly followed by a barrage of explosions. Sasuke and Sakura looked at each other. They sympathized with the poor soul. Unbeknownst to them, those triggered traps were more dangerous than the ones they faced off. Luckily, it was a jounin, a genius one at that, who faced those traps or he wouldn't survive.

15 minutes later, after seeing 2 high-level katon jutsus break through the treetops and fly into the air, a disheveled silver haired jounin walked in limp covered by sticky green goop. Sakura made a disgusted moan after seeing it and thanked heaven that she wasn't the one who received it. Mud was much better. It would dry up and was much easier to remove than the sticky goop.

Sasuke and Sakura immediately glared at Naruto. The culprit was clear now. If the jounin himself was also at the receiving end of the prank than it meant that the clean one was the culprit. Unless the jounin made a mistake when he made those traps…but that was unlikely.

"Yo," he greeted the 2 incredulous genins. "I'm sorry I'm late. I was running from 4 colonies of bees that attacked me," Sakura almost yelled 'LIAR' when she saw his face—even the parts covered by his mask—and his hands were full with swellings. She gulped and nodded sympathetically.

Kakashi blinked when he saw his soon-to-be-students' states. He then looked up to where Naruto was. His clean state and the wide grin on his face confirmed his fear.

"…Anyway since most of us are not in the state to receive the test, and I don't think I'm ready to test you, I will postpone this test for 1-uh…3 days. Meet me here at the same time. Don't be late," a snort came from above, but Kakashi ignored it. "And don't eat or you'll puke. Dismissed!" this time Kakashi walked away instead of poofing out.

The 2 genins gaped in disbelief. They endangered their lives moving through the traps and now the jounin easily dismissed them just like that! And now they had to face the traps that haven't been triggered again! "NANIIIII!" this time Sasuke joined Sakura as they bellowed incredulously at the jounin who was not in their sights anymore.

Naruto grinned. Mission success. Now he only needed to hear about the other traps. Kakashi was wrong if he thought that he was already safe.

Inside him Kyuubi chuckled. Even if he was sealed, at least he got a decent vessel.

TBC…

Please review!


	6. Part Six

Disclaimer: Naruto isn't mine

Author's Note: Well, since many of you want to know about Kakashi, here it is. I don't make it from his point of view when he was facing the traps though.

Part Six

Sarutobi Asuma tapped the table in front of him impatiently. He was currently waiting the other jounins to hear the genin exam result. So far, only Shiranui Genma arrived with the news that his team didn't make it, while Asuma's team members were succeed in becoming real genins.

The 2 jounins looked up when the door opened, and 3 people entered the room. Yuuhi Kurenai, a genjutsu specialist, walked in with satisfied look plastered on her face, so Asuma could conclude that her team passed the test. Now, Gekkou Hayate's and Yoruno Korugi's faces were more difficult to read. Hayate brought his hand to his mouth and coughed. Asuma never understood why the sick shinobi didn't stop being shinobi. The sick jounin always seemed as if his life was on thread and would die if he fought against enemy shinobi, regardless his excellent sword technique. Korugi was a silent jounin and his face betrayed no emotion, so Asuma gave up on reading him.

"So," the cigarette-obsessed jounin started. "How are your teams?"

"My team passed," Kurenai smiled. "Inuzuka Kiba is a very energetic kid…and a loudmouth," she added afterwards.

"Inuzuka…isn't that the dog user clan?" the red eyed woman nodded.

"Yes. The other one is Aburame Shino, a very quiet boy and creepy if I could add. He uses…_bugs_," the jounin woman shivered at the mention of bugs. "Ugh,

I hate bugs," she exclaimed. "And I also got the heiress of Hyuuga. Her name is Hinata. She is very shy though, and didn't have any confidence whatsoever on her bone. Hopefully I can make her more confident after some training."

"Hm…so you got a byakugan user and 2 animal specialists in your team," Genma voiced in. "What about you Hayate?" the jounin asked his sick friend.

Hayate coughed before answering. "They failed," he simply told them that.

"…Can you elaborate about your team?" Kurenai rolled her eyes. _Men…_

"Nakai Yuma is an average genin, he's rather shy and prefer to stay alone. He's Kagero's son. Reikou Tobe has good taijutsu but really sucks at genjutsu. His ninjutsu is average. Uematsu Takeha is a troublemaker and like to start a fight, but doesn't have the brain to support his brawl. Nothing interesting about them," he coughed again.

"Hmm…What about your team, Yoruno-san?" Kurenai asked politely. The quiet shinobi was her acquaintance, but she wasn't close with him, so she called him with his surname.

"…My team consists of Amane Haruki, Haneda Naru, Sanada Yukime. Nothing interesting about them. They failed," he took a seat beside Asuma.

"Well, my team is the next generation of Yamanaka, Nara, and Akimichi. The Yamanaka girl, Ino, is really loud," he winced at his memory. "Nara Shikamaru is even lazier than his father, but he has the brain. Akimichi Chouji is…well an Akimichi, I guess," Asuma scratched his hair, not knowing how to describe his food-obsessed genin.

"I guess it's my turn," Genma chewed his metal toothpick. "Team 3: Reihara Shinju, Kowaru Arisa, and Uemaki Hana. Reihara seems to be a leader type. He has good reflex, but is quick to anger. Kowaru is a genjutsu user like her mother, but she lacks the experience to use it on battle and is easily scared. Hana is a strategist, I'd say that if she has a better team members than the other 2, she could pass the test. Alas the team failed."

The 5 shinobis talked for a while as they waited for their comrades to come. 4 hours later the only one that hasn't come was only Kakashi. The others have said that their teams failed. If Kakashi didn't fail his team, then the jounins had to pick up 3 genins from the failed teams to be the new genins (They didn't know that Sandaime has decided that team 7 will pass).

"Why am I not surprised when he is late?" Kurenai asked annoyed.

"Oh, Kakashi my eternal rival, you shouldn't come late for a meeting like this! You could corrupt the burning Konoha youths!" Gai exclaimed tearfully. The others sweat dropped at the sight. Gai was the last year genin team's sensei, but he decided to take part in the meeting.

"…Ignore him," one of the jounins, a female medic-nin named Heika Shiori, said. The rest of the jounins completely agreed with her.

Half an hour later, someone with silver hair entered the room.

"Kaka…shi?" Asuma gaped at his comrade's state. The other jounins gawked at the silver haired jounin in disbelief, even Yoruno and Hayate raised their eyebrows.

"Ah…yo!" the son of Konoha's white fang scratched his back in embarrassment. The jounins there were wondering what happened to the genius shinobi. He looked as if he had a great battle and got his butt kicked. His face was red, not because of embarrassment, but because of the small red swellings he got. He got a bandage on his forehead. His left arm was bandaged and some locks of his hair were colored blue, green and red.

Even Gai couldn't say anything when he saw his rival's state.

"I'm sorry I'm late. I have met with a little devil that cause me some problems that I have to cancel the genin exam, and when I came home, I triggered the newly placed and my own tinkered traps that I have no doubt that it was done by this little devil. And after that I have a problem with some polices because my neighbors sued me for public disturbance, because of the blaring noise from my speakers that was part of the traps" he cringed at his memory.

Silence…

The jounins continued to gawk.

"Uhm…anyway I'm late because I have to wash myself because of some traps. Go to hospital to get my injuries healed and go to Hokage's tower to request a genin team to fix my completely messed up house and go to the police for my case," he added.

It was actually Hayate and Genma who broke the silence. The looked at each other, knowing the real identity of this 'little devil' before blowing in laughter. It broke the ice and the rest followed their' leads. Kakashi's face was as red as tomato now. Kurenai thought that it was cute, since she never seen the cool and collected Kakashi looked so flustered and irritated like that.

"Pft," Genma smirked mischievously. "Now, that's what I call a good reason unlike your other lame reasons," he picked his toothpick.

"So…who's this little devil? I thought that you peeped some girls in bath and they caught you," Kurenai asked curiously.

"Oh, Kakashi, you shouldn't let anyone beat you! It was my job as your rival!" Gai clasped his hand. "Or does this mean that a new rival has risen for me?" the others ignored the Green Beast of Konoha.

"So, how's your team?" Team 10's sensei asked.

Kakashi sighed before he took a seat in front of his smirking comrade. "Like I said. I cancelled the genin exam because of my…injuries, so I haven't known their abilities yet. I have told them to meet me again in 3 days. With the added injuries I got in my home however, I think that I should make it 5 days. Anyway from the introduction yesterday and the short meeting today I can conclude that Uchiha Sasuke is a bit suicidal with the whole I'm-better-than-you attitude. Haruno Sakura is a love struck girl who doesn't have a motivation to be a kunoichi except to ogle at Sasuke, and Naruto is a real pain in the ass with a _very _devious mind and really, really creative. I admit that he has gotten the better of me with his mind-boggling traps that landed me in this state in the first place," the silver haired jounin growled.

"That's Naruto, alright," Genma snickered. Kakashi shot him a suspicious glare.

"Naruto?" one of the jounins raised his eyebrows. "The Kyuubi's vessel?" he asked in disbelief.

Shiryoku Ren was a fair shinobi. He was one of Konoha's shinobis that survived Kyuubi's attack. And even if his sister was dead that night, he didn't blame Naruto liked the rest of the villagers done. He knew the difference between the blonde boy and Kyuubi. He didn't act hostile with Naruto, but he also didn't act civil either. He was skeptical, because he didn't know that Naruto actually had a rebellious streak, considering how quiet the boy was. Well, that proved that the saying 'you shouldn't judge a book from its cover' right.

5 of the jounins were making a face at the mention of the boy. It was clear to see that they hated the blonde boy. Ren shook his head sadly. It was unfortunate that some people let their hate blinded them.

"Wait, so you meant that this 'little devil' was Naruto?" Kurenai gaped. Damn, that child really had done a great bang job on Kakashi, the so-called genius shinobi. She wasn't sure herself that she could wound kakashi, but here it was, a 12 years old kid kicked the silver haired jounin' butt.

"NOOOOOOOOO! Kakashi lose to a 12 years old boy! How could it be!" the jounins rolled their eyes. There should be a law that stated imbalanced shinobi should be sent to mental institution!

Asuma was quiet. "Say…what if we make a bet?" that got the attentions of all.

0-0 0-0 0-0

Naruto sneezed.

"Damn, someone must be talking about me!" the blonde boy rubbed his nose in annoyance. "So what do you want to talk, old man?" he asked rudely to Sandaime.

"I have heard about Kakashi's…misfortune," the old man's lips twitched in amusement before his face returned into serious mask.

"Aanndd?" Naruto drawled with a smirk on his face.

"I must insist that you don't do it again to him in the future"

"And why should I comply with your request?" Naruto teased.

"Because…because I request it!" Sarutobi yelled in frustration. The Kyuubi's vessel raised an amused eyebrow.

"That's not really an adequate reason, you know. Try again!"

"He will be your team's sensei, and it would be best if you be good with him." Hearing this, the cheerful act was gone, replaced by a cold mask. Hokage's heart sank seeing it.

"Who said I want to become a shinobi for _this_ village," Naruto narrowed his eyes. "Tell me, why should I pledge my allegiance to the village who hate me!" he hissed.

"They don't hate—"

"Yes, they do! And you know, so don't you dare denying it, old man! Why else they threw glares, insults, and even assassination attempts, if not because of their hate to me?" Sandaime was silent. "And for all I know, I could have just leave this pathetic excuse of village."

"…But you didn't leave," the old man pointed out.

"That's just because you will send your anbus to drag me back here!" he snapped. "But I'll tell you that when I'm strong enough, I will leave this accursed place, no matter if you send your hunter-nin to hunt me down."

"If that time comes, will you destroy Konoha?" Sarutobi asked bluntly. He was filled with dread as he waited for the answer.

The blonde boy in front of him snorted. "Those people aren't worth my time, but if Konoha decided to hunt me, I won't sit back idly either," he grunted.

There was a long silence in the room, before the Hokage looked up with a renewed determination. Naruto frowned, wondering what the old man was planning.

"What if I told you that I will grant you permission to leave Konoha at will as long as you become Konoha's shinobi and help it in the time of great need? Of course that would be after you passed as a chuunin at least."

Well…Naruto had to say that this…was an unexpected development. Even the fox demon inside him was speechless at hearing the offer. That was a great offer, actually. The old man must be pretty desperate to have him as Konoha's shinobi that he offered something like this. He wondered why though. Was it because he was Kyuubi's vessel? Or was it because of his father who was the Fourth?

Naruto opened his mouth, but closed it again. He consulted with Kyuubi for his decision. After a long moment of silence, the 2 came into a decision.

"Fine, I'll do it," the old man breathed a sigh of relief, but Naruto hasn't finished yet. "But under some conditions," Sarutobi looked up with a frown.

"…What are they?"

"One, if I'm attacked by some of your…people," Naruto frowned. "No matter that they are shinobis or civilians, I have the right to retaliate and won't be punished for that. Two," he didn't give the old man a chance to speak. "You will give me that permission no matter if I become chuunin or not. Afterall how can I be sure that the examiner would be fair to me? You'll give me that permission right after the next chuunin exam this year. Don't interrupt, I haven't finished yet," he said when the old man opened his mouth. "Three, I won't use Konoha's hitae-ate when I'm outside the wall. Four, what I do outside will remain outside, Konoha won't interfere with my live, and I have the right to reject any mission you sent to me. I will help Konoha when it was needed, that's all. Five, I could take any mission I like even if it isn't from Konoha,. And six…give me more allowance." The Third was dumbfounded at the last request. "Well?" Naruto asked impatiently.

"Then I want you to promise that you won't kill them, just incapacitate them if they attack you," Naruto shook his head.

"If they're civilian I won't kill them unless they pass the boundaries like injuring people close to me or send assassin after me, but I can't say the same for shinobis. Whatever mistake they do, they have to pay for the consequence," Naruto argued firmly.

"Alright, that will do. And I'll grant you permission only and only if you complete the entire exam. It doesn't matter if you become chuunin or not as long as you complete the exam."

"…I think that's fair. Go on!"

"You only take mission from non-Konoha people that doesn't endanger Konoha's safety," the blonde nodded. "And for your allowance, I will give you a bank account with 6 years worth of money, and I'll add your family's money there. If you spend all of them in a year, I won't give you anything."

"My family's money? You know my family?" Naruto pretended that he didn't know about his family.

"They're dead. That's the only thing I can tell you for now. Don't ask anymore!"

"Fine, who cares about them anyway!" there was a sad glint in Sarutobi's eyes when he said it, but Naruto honestly didn't care.

"I will prepare the draft today for the official record, go back here tomorrow, and I'll have it ready by then," Naruto nodded. He exited the room when the door opened revealing Kakashi.

The 2 shinobis just stood there, staring at each other. Naruto broke the silence and smirked. "Something happened to you? You looked as if you were mauled by rabid dogs," Naruto mocked. "See you in 3 days then," the blonde boy passed the jounin.

"Actually it would be 5 days," the silver haired jounin scowled.

Naruto turned around. "Oh? Why?" he asked innocently.

The older shinobi glared hard at him, but Naruto didn't waver. "I have an…unfortunate incident that will take my 5 days time," he growled. "Tell Sasuke and Sakura when you met them," Naruto's father's pupil turned from Naruto and walked toward the sighing sandaime. "You call me, sandaime-sama?"

Naruto snorted and closed the door as he exited the room.

It seemed that he had to change his plan. He might haven't promised the old man that he wouldn't prank Kakashi (because Naruto and sandaime were preoccupied and forgot about it completely when the old man gave the offer to Naruto), but since he agreed to be Konoha's shinobi for the sake of his freedom he wouldn't prank him in their next meeting.

That didn't mean that he wouldn't prank him and his…teammates after that though. Naruto cackled evilly along with the fox inside him.

TBC…

Does the deal surprise you all? I bet that no one has thought that I would twist this story to this point. He heh. For Naruto and Kyuubi, freedom is their dream (even if the fox would only have limited freedom inside Naruto's belly. He preferred to see the world rather than being among Konoha's citizens), and since the deal give them more advantage than to Konoha, they accepted it.

And what's this bet Asuma talking about?

Please read and review!

Eh, and since I write this at 3 in the morning (when I should've use my time to sleep rather than writing) and I haven't read this fic again, there would be many mistakes, I think.


	7. Part Seven

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

Author's Note: I won't be able to update for a while because my mom ordered me to go home until 18th or so August (I'll go home in the evening of 9th August). Here goes the bell test you have waited so far! But before that…read the omake first!

**Omake**:

Naruto's Prank Mishaps 1

With a wide grin 8 years old Naruto jumped from the big window of Sandaime's office. Concentrating his chakra on his palms and feet, he calculated the right time to cling on the wall. He quickly stood up on the wall and ran toward the ground. With a chuckle the blonde boy escaped from the Hokage tower and vanished into the darkness of the night.

The next morning, with a binocular on his hands, Naruto spied sandaime's office. The old man should've entered his office in about 5 seconds.

'5…4…3…'

The door opened revealing the old Hokage and a black haired woman that Naruto wasn't familiar with.

"Damn I miscalculated the timing," Naruto mumbled. "Oh well," with that there was a loud explosion coming from Hokage's tower, followed by series of loud sneezes and curses. "That's strange…I'm pretty sure that I inserted itching powder not sneezing powder." Naruto frowned. Taking out his backpack he opened it and searched for his itching powder. He took out a bottle of white powder and gave an inaudible gasp when he read the name of the powder. "Super Sensitive Pepper? Guess I was too much in hurry when I snatched this bottle."

Naruto went back to his spying and saw that the guards that were stationed there ran toward Hokage's office… and sneezed violently just like their leader and the unknown woman.

Naruto looked down at the transparent bottle on his hand. "Sensitive indeed…" he smirked mischievously.

That was the first time Anko met with Naruto's prank. Sandaime, Anko, and the chuunin guards weren't able to perform their duties (and to sleep too) in about 2 days straight, because the medic-nin couldn't help them with their violent sneezing problem.

The next day Naruto ordered a new batch of 'Super Sensitive Powder' and put them in his hidden cabinet where he usually put his 'highly dangerous prank substances' for his next prank.

End.

Part Seven The Bell Test 

Naruto knocked the sandaime's office door loudly and entered the room when he heard a 'Come in' from the leader of the Leaf. The old Hokage didn't look up at the blond and instead searching something on the mount of paperwork piles in his table.

Inwardly, Naruto wondered why did the old man accept this job since it seemed that it just brought headache judging from the frustrated look plastered on the old man's face.

"Ah, here it is!" Sandaime cheered joyfully when he found what he searched for, a small scroll with Hokage's signature. "This is our contract. We only need to seal it off with our bloods," Naruto nodded. He carefully read the scroll sentence by sentence. It wasn't like he thought that the old man couldn't be trusted, but more thinking that he probably forgot to write some of the conditions. After giving a double check, Naruto bit his thumb and smeared his blood in the spot above his name. He gave it to the Leaf's leader who quickly did the same like him, only it was above his own name, instead of Naruto's.

"I also have transferred the money to your account, but I haven't yet sorted out your parents' money. It will take almost a week to deal with your inheritance," he explained. The blode genin candidate only shrugged as he took the contract scroll.

He tuned and touched the door knob when sandaime called him, "And Naruto, please don't prank Kakashi the next time."

"I won't make any prank for the next meeting, but after that…" he trailed off before giving a smirk to the old leader.

Sarutobi sighed as he watched the Kyuubi vessel exited his office. "Kakashi, I can't do anything for you more than this. From now on you're on your own," he mumbled.

0-0 0-0 0-0

Naruto held back his laughter when he saw a bedraggled genin candidate coming closer. The dark haired boy had a flock of his hair singed and 2 cuts on his clothes. He was a bit dirty as well even though it was nothing compared to what he looked like 5 days ago. A scowl marred his face.

The Uchiha heir has arrived at training field 7. The young shinobi gave a death glare that was of course being ignored by the blond, much to his irate. Sasuke sat on the ground below a tree that he deemed far enough from Naruto and settled there trying to ignore the smirking shinobi who currently played with 2 foxes around him. They were different from the foxes he last seen Naruto with, he noted.

15 minutes later, a more disheveled looking genin candidate arrived. She appeared to be pretty tired and her pink hair was a mess. She didn't even give a look at her crush, something that Sasuke was both glad and curious at the same time, but understood later, as she stalked angrily to the young blond.

Naruto whistled at her state, she looked like she was dragged out of her bed and didn't have time to prepare. "Forget to set up your alarm, Haruno?" he chuckled and quickly stood up and doing back flip to avoid the upcoming punch. His foxes jumped to avoid being hit too and ran to the forest. "You're too slow, Haruno. One might think that you are already over 50 years old," he mocked. It was really easy to get a rise from her and he really enjoyed making people irritated, especially when it was Leaf citizen or his enemy.

"I DIDN'T FORGET TO SET UP MY ALARM! AND THIS IS YOUR ENTIRE FAULT FOR RUINING MY FAVORITE CLOTHES!" she punched again, but Naruto jumped to the tree above them. Her inner Sakura was cheering for her host to give some harsh lesson to the prankster.

"Now, now, I just help to fix your fashion sense," he said cheekily. His foxes yipped in agreement, but Sakura's mind wasn't on the animals.

"MY FASHION SENSE? MY FASHION SENSE?" she was practically shrieking now. Naruto rubbed his ear to add her anger. "WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT GIRL FASHION SENSE, YOU MALE… MALE…" she couldn't find a word to describe her loathe toward the boy above him. "DO YOU KNOW HOW LONG I WAS PREPARING MYSELF FOR SASUKE-KUN?"

"Nope. Nuh-uh," Naruto shook his head in mirth at the panting girl below him.

The pink haired girl pulled her hair angrily, making her hair messier than before, much to the 2 boys' amusement, although the Uchiha boy hid it well with his indifferent look. She screamed in anger loudly before she went away from Naruto in rage. 15 minutes later she already back to bug Sasuke, much to the boy's irate and Naruto's mirth.

10 minutes later and Kakashi still wasn't there, so Naruto made a shadow clone to replace him when he used the time to train, without the other 2 genin candidates' knowing.

2 hours later the 2 genins were on the verge on searching Kakashi and mutilated him. After dealing with Naruto's traps, Sasuke really wasn't in the mood for waiting the silver haired jounin while an annoying fangirl budged him all the time. Sakura was torn between her anger for waiting the jounin instructor and was with the annoying blonde boy (she didn't know that it was a kage-bunshin playing with the foxes that returned from the forest after they deemed that the situation was safe again), and happiness to have more time with her precious Sasuke-kun.

A loud yell from the forest gained their attention and the 2 genins looked around to find the source. Their jounin instructor appeared out of thin air in front of them. A cut was made in his jounin uniform and there was mud that covered his feet. The jounin looked rather annoyed as he gazed at the grinning blond in the tree.

"YOU'RE LATE!" Sakura shrieked as loud as she could, making Sasuke who was closest to her winced.

Kakashi ignored her as he gazed above him. "I thought that sandaime-sama has warned you not to make any prank this time," he gritted his teeth in annoyance although the young shinobis couldn't see it because of his mask.

"I did promise him that I won't make any prank this time, but you see…" Naruto's (bunshin's) grin grew wider. "The traps you just met with are the remnants of the last traps that I built 5 days ago. That way I don't break my promise," Naruto remarked much to the annoyance of the 3 people below.

"Fine, fine. Let's get it done quickly. The sooner I can get you out of my sight, the better," Naruto shrugged before poofed out. "WHAT THE?" a second later Naruto the real one) emerged from the forest, walking as if he owned the world.

"So, what's the test?" The blond said cheerfully, much to cheerful for the their tastes.

Giving a glare to Naruto after he understood what exactly happened, Kakashi coughed and brought forth 2 bells gaining their attention. "There are 2 bells here," he sent a glare to Naruto's direction when the kid rolled his eyes and looked at the silver haired jounin with a 'Yeah, I already know it. No need to say the obvious' look. "To pass as a genin each of you have to get a bell from me."

"But Kakashi-sensei, there are only 2 bells!" the pink haired girl commented.

"Well, I did say 'There are TWO bells here', didn't I?" after being irritated by Naruto's traps and the reminder that he couldn't do anything to pay Naruto back for it, Kakashi wasn't in the mood of any interruption. He really didn't understand how this blonde kid could get under his skin so much without trying to lift any finger. He was usually cool, calm, and collected (AN: yeah, right!) not easily angered by something trivial like being pranked!

The girl blushed at the reprimand. "But—"

The son of Konoha's White Fang held out his hand. "The point is… the one who can't get any bell before 12 o'clock will be sent back to the academy."

Kakashi smiled when he saw the expected reaction. "WHAT!" Sakura shouted in shock. Sasuke was pale.

Naruto though, had to fight the urge to say 'Well, it's easy then. You 2 can try to get the bells while I go home and sleep'. He had said to sandaime that he would be Konoha's genin (this thought disgusted him), so he had to pass the test. He settled to yawn lazily as if there was nothing wrong in the world. Kakashi's eyebrow twitched at the sight.

"But you're a jounin. While we aren't even genin!" the Haruno girl cried out.

"That's why if you don't give your best, you won't make it, pinky!" Sakura twitched at the nickname. "The one who didn't get any bell won't get lunch!" at this Sakura groaned as her stomach grumbled. Sasuke looked annoyed while Naruto took out his bento with a grin.

"I have eaten this morning and already bring bento for lunch," 3 veins appeared on the shinobis' foreheads. The three were ready to castrate the blond.

"Anyway…you have to come to me with the intent to kill to succeed. Now go!" just as he said it a blur from his right rushed to the silver haired shinobi, surprising him. He blocked the attack with a punch and felt the blur latched unto his arm after avoiding his punch. Kakashi's eyes widened when he saw a red fox clutched his sleeve with its small claw and wring his uniform as if it was rabid dog.

"Thank you, chibi kitsune," a cheerful greeting came out of Naruto' mouth turned their attention to the blond. They gawked to see him taking out the bells from a brown fox's mouth and petted it, making it purred in satisfaction. The red fox in Kakashi's arm let him go and went to the young shinobi too, expecting to be petted like its friend. Naruto stood up and threw a bell to Kakashi. "I only need one," he grinned.

Kakashi had the urge to bang his head to the nearest tree. The annoying blond ruined his test! They were supposed to work together to get the bells to pass the test! And he couldn't say that he did it the wrong way, because there were no rules that forbid the use of animals and it was also a form of teamwork between the animal and the its master! And speaking of animals, his file didn't say something like this. Kakshi pondered for a while. The Hokage would kill him if he didn't pass the team. And his sensei in the underworld would come back to castrate him if his son didn't pass. So what should he do?

He couldn't say that this test was supposed to be a teamwork test too because it was too early to say that and they needed to understand it on their own.

He had to improvise…and quickly.

"Fine Naruto, you pass!" he muttered in annoyance. "Meet me in the bridge in Zankuha district tomorrow at 7 p.m. for our first mission." Sensei's son or not, he was itched to kill the annoying genin. "Wait, where's your hitae-ate?" Sasuke and Sakura observed him when they heard it and noticed that he was indeed not wearing his hitae-ate.

"In my flat. Why?"

"As a shinobi of Konoha you should wear them all the time," the jounin instructor reprimanded the scowling boy. "It is a sign that we proud of being Konoha's shinobi," a loud snort came from the young genin as he gave a chilly glare to Kakashi. Yondaime's pupil took a step back in surprise. He knew that Naruto didn't like Konoha and its citizen, but to detest it this much…

"Proud? Are you kidding? Why should I be proud to be a shinobi of this fucking village?" he hissed in rage.

"Then why did you become Konoha's shinobi if you hate it? You should just drop out of the academy!" Sakura yelled. Sasuke wondered about it too.

She froze when Naruto turned to her with narrowed eyes and even colder eyes. "Shut your blabbing mouth, Haruno. Or I'll make you shut up myself. This isn't your business, pinky." He scowled and left them. The 2 foxes followed their angry master.

Kakashi sighed and shook his head. 'Arashi-sensei, what should I do with your son? He's so…difficult.'

"Kakashi-sensei…" Kakashi looked up and met the frightened face of Sakura. He sighed inwardly. "Why did Uzumaki hate Konoha so much?"

Kakashi scratched his back. "I can't say why, but just know that he has the right to hate Konoha," he noticed that Sasuke paid attention to him, apparently he was intrigued by the blonde boy's act. "Let's finish the test. Since Naruto has passed it, there will be only one of you that will pass," at this Sasuke looked confident, while Sakura looked scared thinking that there was no way she could compete with her crush. Not only he was stronger than her, she also didn't want him to get mad at her if she bested him.

"Kakashi-sensei," she looked down timidly. "I-I…I think I'll pass this test. There is no way I can do it."

The said jounin almost groaned in exasperation. 'O, man… there goes my test!'

0-0 0-0 0-0

"They passed," came the waited announcement from the silver haired jounin to his giddy comrades.

"Whoo! I told you they would pass!" a black haired jounin with brown eyes shouted happily thinking about the money he won. Some jounins groaned knowing that they lost their bet. "So, how did they do it?" the other also looked curious, even they who lost the bet.

Kakashi slouched on the chair and sighed. He scratched his back. "They passed, alright. Only it wasn't in the way any of us thought, so no one win the 2nd and 3rd bets, really." The 2nd bet was when they would realize the meaning of Kakashi's test. While the 3rd bet was who would realize the meaning of the test. The ones who thought that team 7 wouldn't pass didn't bet on the 2nd and 3rd and instead would bet on the 4th bet: when Kakashi would tell them they didn't pass. And the 5th bet: how Kakashi would humiliate them.

"What do you mean by that?" Asuma looked intrigued.

Kakashi sighed once again and recited how his test was ruined.

0-0 0-0 0-0

Naruto rammed the tree in front of him in anger and watched in satisfaction as it gave off from the power he hit it with and dropped to the forest ground with a loud crack and created a local earthquake.

"Stupid Hatake!" he growled. "Stupid Haruno! They should go to hell!" The foxes around him yipped to soothe his anger. Naruto looked at the pleading looks the foxes gave him and sat on the ground. The foxes walked closer and circled him. The blond's face softened and he scoop one of them, a dark red fox with 4 white legs that looked as if the fox wore socks. He lifted the fox with his hands and brought him closer to his face. "I'm not angry with all of you, you know," Naruto smiled softly. It yipped and licked his face. "Hey!" it licked again. The other foxes jumped to him and played with Naruto.

Naruto laughed and spent his time playing with his foxes until they felt tired and slept around him. Laying on the ground below a tree, Naruto gazed at the sky. The stars were twinkling brightly in the dark sky. Naruto took out his contract scroll. "At least, we will be free soon," the fox inside him agreed.

TBC…

Whew. Part 7 is actually done! I wasn't in the mood to write these days (infact when I wrote this I wasn't in the mood to write anything) and instead using my time to read fanfictions and sleep.

Don't forget to give me your review! And remember, that I won't be able to update my fic before August 18th. I will have to read the information I have on LotR again before I can continue my fic **HP and the Ranger**. Damn, I shouldn't make too many OC characters there! I got a problem to remember all names.

Sometimes (most of the time) when I want to give reviews to some writer, the damn computers didn't let me. It irked me to no end when it happened. _grmbljr_

**Q: if Sandaime died, then there would be no one who knew about the contract**

**A: **As you can see, Naruto is already given the contract scroll. That would be his permission slip. The Hokage has signed it with his blood and Hokage's official stamp.

**Q: Make it Naru/Anko pairing**

**A: **Sorry to say, but I didn't plan to make any pairing (for Naruto and other main characters) here. Geez, why did everyone want pairing in every fic anyway. I don't want to make any pairing for Naruto because I tend to forget anything else when I have to make romance fic. Romance is just not my thing. Beside Naruto is only what? 12 years old! At this time, Naruto's attention isn't on girls, but how to become stronger. I'll think about it when Naruto is older, but for now no pairing for Naruto.


	8. Part Eight

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Author's Note: Ugh, I have a splitting headache. I have a task to translate 14 pages of English to my own language. You may think that it is easy, but in reality it isn't. I didn't have much time plus even when I know what the English meant, I just can't find the right word in my fuckin' language! Translating is a real pain in the ass. Salute for those translators! Another Omake is finished. Hopefully you'll like it! This time it's Ibiki related.

**Omake:**

Ibiki glared sternly at the prisoner bound on the chair in front of him.

"I asked again, who is your hirer?" he asked harshly. The man whimpered, but still clamped his mouth.

Ibiki sighed. This was getting nowhere. He eyed at the broken shinobi in front of him. The man's fingers were broken, his arms were dislocated, and his face was rearranged. The interrogation squad has tried to make him tell his secrets since 7 hours ago, but the man still wouldn't talk.

A knock on the door to the interrogation room earned the Head of Interrogation department's attention. "Enter." 'Who the hell this was again now? Unless it was overly important, no one should interrupt any interrogation'

A flock of blond entered the room, and Ibiki's eyebrow rose. "Ah, Naruto-kun," he greeted the boy with a grin, especially when he saw the bottle on his hand. "You already finish it?" he asked eagerly at the darkish purple liquid. His 2 subordinates looked at him and the 9-year-old boy back and forth, wondering what their boss was doing with the Kyuubi's vessel. He seemed rather…close with the cursed boy.

"Yup. My new recipe. Just finish it 2 hours ago actually," Naruto glanced at the prisoner with an eyebrow. "I see you have a tough one here," he muttered.

Ibiki scowled at the captive. "Yes. He's a tough one indeed…"

"Care to test my potion. I need a guinea pig afterall. Free of charge for this bottle," the Konoha's shinobi smirked in a way that sent shivers to his subordinates (as well as the captive who appeared to be resigned with his fate).

"Of course," Naruto tossed the bottle lightly. A devious smirk was formed on his boyish face.

The huge shinobi caught it from the air easily and opened the bottle cap. Purple smoke exited the bottle, and small insects crawled inside the dark liquid. Ibiki scrunched his face curiously. "What does it do anyway?"

"Well, the plan is to have insects inside it crawled inside your body. Make a real pain inside too," he added cheerfully.

Ibiki squinted his face and observed the small insects inside it. The insects appeared to have sharp-like claws. The eyes were big and had tails too. He whistled loudly. He didn't want to know where the boy found these insects. "Thanks, I'll use it." The captive's eyes widened.

"Um…Ibiki-san, is it wise to use it to a prisoner when it is untested?" a Leaf shinobi came forward nervously.

"Nah. Beside Naruto-kun needs a guinea pig anyway. What better way to test this potion than to test it on a prisoner?" with that, his left hand cupped it the captive's chin and forced him to open his mouth. Ibiki poured half of the content of the potion inside.

There was no reaction for a minute and they were thinking that the potion has failed. When suddenly the prisoner' eyes widened and he coughed blood. He started having seizure and had breathing difficulty. Ibiki's assistants stepped back with a gulp.

Ibiki stayed silent for 2 minutes. "Now, tell me who is your hirer or I'll pour all of it inside you!" the man looked horrified by the news, but he still didn't talk. "If you be good and answered my questions you'll get the cure."

"I-My…" the man answered his question (with difficulties of course) and Ibiki asked another question. The process was repeated for 10 minutes until Ibiki was satisfied with his findings. "T-The cure, please," the man wheezed.

"Naruto-kun, where is the cure?" He asked.

Only to see the blonde boy shrugged in indifference. "I told you that it is my new recipe. I haven't finished the cure yet for maybe another day," the news flashed like a thunder to the prisoner who looked like he rather be killed than waiting and endure his pain for another day. "Don't worry, if my calculation is right, the insects wouldn't eat him alive for another day until they needed nutrients for their larva," the Leaf shinobis (except Ibiki) went green and wanted to throw up. That sounded worse than the Aburame's bugs!

Ibiki looked alarmed. "Larva? They won't spread anywhere, right?"

"Nah, that's the use of the liquid. The insects could only live near the liquid so you won't need to worry. I'll give the complete instruction how to use it to you. Damn, it works just like what I want!" he grinned.

"Uh, Ibiki-sama, what should we do with this man?" they looked at the writhing prisoner.

Ibiki and Naruto stared at each other for a moment before they shrugged simultaneously. "He just have to wait for the cure tomorrow, I guess," he said as if he was discussing the weather.

"J-Just k-k-kill kill me al-already," the man whimpered.

"Nah, couldn't do that, buddy. I'm a man of my words, I promised you the cure, and you will get it. You just have to endure for a day. Relax!"

The man was sobbing now as he wheezed in pain, murmuring something about how he wanted to be killed.

His assistants looked back and forth between their superior, the writhing prisoner and Naruto with shivers. They really didn't want to end the same like the man.

'Monsters' was the thought that run along the 2 shinobis' minds when they thought of Ibiki and Naruto.

End.

Part Eight 

Naruto yawned widely, bored out of his mind. Today his genin team (Naruto suppressed a shudder for calling it _his _genin team) was supposed to do another measly D-rank mission. Though just like other days, Naruto sent his bunshin in his place to do his job while he was away training. There was no way, he, the vessel of Kyuubi, son of Yondaime (though most Konoha's people didn't know and the only ones who knew didn't know that he know) and shinobi extraordinary did a job as low as D-rank mission. It degraded his pride.

The only thing he did was to get to team 7's meeting place when his foxes sensed the silver haired jounin around and to arrive before his so-called sensei. The first few times he came, he was always being yelled at by the atrocious pink haired…teammate. Hmph, she was more like an expendable sacrificial lamb! Thankfully that stupid incessant girl stopped it after awhile. Though whether it was because she has given up or maybe it was because of the pranks he pulled out to make her life as miserable as he could without harming her (don't want to get an earful scolding from Sandaime, of course), he didn't know. One thing for sure was that she was never bored yelling at the lame reason that the jounin instructor threw at them. Hm… perhaps he needed to talk with sandaime about this. Preferably a cut of allowance. That way that jounin would (hopefully) didn't come late.

Naruto didn't know why he even bothered to come. Obviously he had sent his bunshin to do his assignment while he went back to his own training after team 7 received their mission scroll. Perhaps it was just his way respecting the deal he made with the Konoha's current leader. Afterall a promise is a promise, and he promised that he would become Konoha's genin even if he did it for his own sake not for this pathetic village that was called a hidden village which was wrong since it wasn't hidden in anyway at all. For Kyuubi's sake, the village was built on plain sight!

Very stupid for a shinobi village really.

"Naruto can't you do your own tasks instead of sending your clone?" Kakashi asked exasperatedly at the blonde genin beside him.

"Why? It doesn't matter anyway. In a way _I _am doing my job even if it is indirectly," the blonde boy shrugged as he walked away from the team after they received a D-rank mission: weed the garden. His clone that he has just left behind looked back and forth between him and Kakashi.

"These missions are supposed to polish your team work."

Naruto scoffed. As if there was teamwork to begin with. And this jounin wanted him to polish this non- existent teamwork? He must be crazier than he first thought. "I don't care about a god damn team work. Plus if you want talk about teamwork, perhaps you should come on time to the meetings in the first place. That way I might reconsider. Note that you've done nothing to make me and those other 2 brats stronger. Are you really a fuckin' jounin instructor? The way I see it when there are dangerous opponents those 2 would soon get their asses battered and hopefully get killed. They're lucky that at least I give them some…training."

Kakashi wanted to point out that it wasn't actually a training considering how many pranks Naruto executed inside his traps, but decided to shut his mouth. He had to admit that Sasuke and Sakura improved a little after facing those daily traps. The 2 genins were being more careful than they were 3 weeks ago, considering they had to predict whether Naruto put a trap somewhere to make their meeting more… interesting. Thankfully he hadn't built trap like the 3-layered trap he had built weeks ago.

The silver haired jounin watched as Naruto walked away from the rest of the team with a sigh. He felt like he didn't fit to be a jounin teacher for failing his sensei on teaching his son.

"Alright, let's just get this mission done," Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto clone followed him.

0-0 0-0 0-0

Naruto panted. He stared at the opponent in front of him with a smile, not the kind of mischievous smile or the likes but a smile that looked as if he enjoyed what he was doing right now. In the darkness of the cave, 2 red eyes glowed from the shadow. The figure growled and it immediately ran at the blond in impressive speed that would probably took almost everyone off guard. But Naruto wasn't one of them. He jumped to the cave roof and planted his feet there. Naruto's eyes searched for his opponent in the darkness. He threw a kunai in the direction where he saw a movement there. The silhouette moved away from the kunai and it made a sound clang when it flung from the rocky surface of the cave.

"Kitsune bi," Naruto whispered before he breathed a blue flame from his mouth toward the silhouette. From the light of the flame he could see the some parts of his opponent's body. 2 furry legs crouched in the floor, as it was ready to jump away from the burning flame.

Naruto saw it jumped away and he directed the attack to follow it. It singed the opponent and it growled in pain. The figure planted its feet to the rocky wall and sent a green flame of its own toward Naruto. The genin's eyes widened and he hurriedly made a blue flame barrier in front of him. The green and blue flame met and it created a brilliant light that illuminated the cave.

His opponent let out a growl of annoyance out of its mouth when the green flame died out. 2 tails danced angrily around him. The blue flame shield was still there.

:"Oh come one, Kibi, I only singed some furs," Naruto said to his annoyed opponent. "No need to get serious!" The 2 tailed fox turned its face away from him.

Naruto sighed as he watched it sulked. "How about this…I'll give you a bunch of meat," its ears perked up and it turned his face to Naruto. It yipped in agreement. Naruto smiled. It was easy to make the 2 tailed fox demon happy when he offered food to him. "Wait here, I'll be back soon," with that Naruto went toward the cave's exit.

0-0 0-0 0-0

**The next day**

"Aarrgggghh! I CAN'T STAND IT ANYMORE!" Sakura banged the table sandaime was currently using. She glared at the old leader who only raised an eyebrow at her behaviour. "Give us a better assignment, something more challenging! NOT some measly assignment like catching that cat! I swear if team 7 sent to catch that cat again I'll wring its neck for the trouble it caused us. Who knows that maybe that cat will actually feel grateful to get killed!"

Iruka stood up from his table. "Sakura, you should know that you're still a genin and you're not even a genin for a month!"

"But Iruka-sensei," she whined.

"No, Iruka, let her say what she wants," the Hokage waved him off. The academy teacher frowned, but complied with his superior's request. "Do the rest of you feel the same?" Hokage asked the rest of team 7.

Sasuke nodded in agreement causing Sakura to have hearts on her eyes. Carefully Sasuke took some steps away from her.

"Maa I don't really care," the silver haired jounin said without looking up from his orange book. A giggle escaped from his mouth.

"Kakashi-sensei you should give better example to your assigned team!" Iruka said, enraged with the inappropriate behaviour, but the jounin ignored him.

"What about you, Naruto?" Hokage asked earning the attention of others.

"If that meant that I can get out of this village for awhile I agree," was the blonde's reply.

Hokage frowned with his reply, but nodded. "I see…then I'll give you a C-rank mission."

"But Hokage-sama—" Iruka complained.

"I have decided it, Iruka," the chuunin nodded mournfully. "Your mission is to escort a bridge builder named Tazuna back to Wave country," a man entered the office. He looked like a haggard drunken man.

"My name is Tazuna, the super bridge builder," Naruto downed the rest of the introduction as he wondering how the man could coincidentally arrived just after his name called. He wondered whether the man stood behind the door for a long time until he heard his name called.

'Don't he have to take a pee or something?' Naruto thought. Of course he had known that there was a man behind the door, but his presence didn't seem threatening and sandaime surely knew about him, so he shut his mouth.

"What? This is my escort? They don't appear to be able to handle their mission, especially that blonde wimp!" Hokage cringed at the insult. A kunai whizzed Tazuna's hair and imbedded in the wall he was currently leaning on.

The super bridge builder gulped at the scowling boy. His eyes darted to his left and saw that some of his hairs were cut by the kunai.

"Insult me again and none will be able to recognize your corpse, not even your family," Naruto hissed hatefully.

The silence in the office was only broken by Tazuna's stammering reply. "Y-Y-Yes, yes," he nodded furiously.

"Naruto, you shouldn't do that to a client!" Iruka scolded.

The blonde genin rolled his eyes in annoyance at the pale teacher. 'Damn! He's still alive? And I had hoped that he would die from the poisoned kunai for the trouble he had gotten me,' Naruto thought as he realized that it was indeed Iruka. He didn't really pay attention when the man argued with Hokage. "Well, he won't be a client when I'm done with him," he smirked.

"Na—"

"Maa… maa… it will probably better for all of us if we go back to our own houses to collect things we're needed in our journey," Kakashi tried to avoid the possible bloodshed. He knew that Naruto could be dangerous when he was annoyed and he didn't want the younger shinobi to get killed because of his lack of understanding about Naruto. "Team 7 meet me in 15 minutes in the West gate. Dismissed!"

Grumbling, Naruto exited the office, but not before he gave a warning to Kakashi. "If you're even a second late, Hatake, I will give you a beating that you will NEVER ever forget! Remember that!" he slammed the door loudly that it shook the office.

"Is…is the kid always like that?" Tazuna asked nervously to no one in particular.

"…Yes," was the simultaneous reply from team 7, which make the Wave citizen became more nervous.

Hokage sighed, hoping that Naruto wouldn't kill team 7 and Tazuna in the journey.

TBC…

Well, that's it. I know that it's pretty short considering that I have been absent from writing for some weeks, but I'm still busy with my assignments. Infact I won't be able to write if not because today is a holiday for…eh…lemme see in the calendar first. Hmm… holiday for Isra Mi'raj, whatever that is, but I'm glad for the small break it gives me.

Read and Reply…You know what? I think I've just understood what R&R that many writers wrote in their stories meant. I have always wondered what it actually meant.


	9. Part Nine

Disclaimer: Isn't it obvious that Naruto isn't mine? I'm not really that desperate to claim Naruto as my own, you know.

Author's Note: Okay, this is part 9. Hopefully you'll like it!

Part Nine

Naruto opened his drawers and took out some sets of kunai, shuriken, explosive notes, clothes, and other things he felt would be useful. He went to the kitchen and got some bottles of fresh water. He almost took some food too, but decided against it since it would just weigh him down. He could go on without food for days and if he felt hungry he could always hunt for his own food.

Grabbing his backpack, Naruto exited his apartment, but not before forming seals and placed them to protect his house from unwanted intruders that were surely will try to invade it when he went away. If they dared to break into his house, well let's just say that the result wouldn't be pretty…for the intruders of course. He didn't place any prank trap there to avoid suspicion. Don't want anyone relate him with the infamous and mysterious prankster, of course.

With a nasty smile imagining what the intruders would appear after they received his surprise, Naruto ran toward Konoha's gate.

He found out that he was the first of team 7 to arrive there. Tazuna was already there and he fidgeted nervously when the blond walked toward him. Apparently he was anxious for the prospect of being with him, especially if they were alone. Not that the genin blamed him for being frightened of him. Naruto sent a smirk to the old man and saw him flinch.

Damn! But it was really funny.

5 minutes later Sasuke arrived to the spot only to see the bridge builder trying to stay as far away as he could from his teammate. Tazuna's eyes darted occasionally (almost every 5 seconds) to the blond, who leaned to the wall behind him casually, to make sure he didn't come closer. Feeling a bit annoyed that it was Naruto that made the man frightened and not he, the vengeful avenger, Sasuke put himself between them to make sure the other genin didn't kill their client before the mission even started. It would be his first C-class mission and he didn't want to fail, just because the not-so-dead-last decided to kill the bridge builder.

Kakashi joined them a minute later. He glanced at his blonde student and then checked his watched before sighing in relief to note that there was still 1 minute until the designed time.

Seconds later, Sakura ran toward them panting. They let her regained her breath for a moment before they departed from Konoha. Kakashi was in the front with Tazuna a step behind him. Sasuke was behind them followed by a happy babbling Sakura. Naruto yawned as he watched their backs boredly. He smiled when he saw a reddish brown fox followed him from the corner of his blue eyes. He gestured the fox to join him. It yipped happily and dashed toward him. Naruto grabbed the fox's body before it had a chance to bump his legs. He put it on his shoulder, letting the fox licked his face and purred.

"Ne, chibi-chan," its eard perked up. "Will you hunt for me?" it yipped again and nodded before it jumped down and ran. Naruto raised an eyebrow when he watched Sasuke narrowed his onyx eyes on him, completely ignoring the pink haired girl that glomped on him and was trying to strike a conversation with her Sasuke-sama. Naruto smirked mockingly infuriating the dark haired genin. Sasuke glared, turned his back and started to walk faster, amusing the blue-eyed genin.

There was no interesting event that day except for the occasional complain from Tazuna claiming that he was tired. The group stopped and camped for the night in a small clearing near the road. The jounin instructor told the genins to set up their own tents and gather wood for fire. Naruto simply sent a bunshin to collect the necessary wood. He didn't need to set up a tent because frankly he didn't bring any tent with him and he was used sleeping outside. Beside Kyuubi would keep him warm when he felt cold, so he didn't need to worry about catching cold. The fox he had sent to hunt has come back with a brown rabbit on its mouth. Petting its head, he took the rabbit from its mouth and skinned it.

"What're you doing with that poor rabbit?" Sakura shrieked accusingly, apparently she has just finished setting up her tent and was on her way to gather wood when she saw the furry animal on Naruto's bloody hands.

Naruto rolled his eyes. "I'm playing with a dead rabbit," he sneered. "What does it look like, pinky?" he snapped irritably.

"How could you! It's just a poor cute animal," her eyes were full of tears right now. The other members of the group glanced at the two.

Naruto looked at Sakura for a moment with disbelief plastered on his face. "Damn, and you call yourself a kunoichi? My, my, it seems that Konoha's shinobi's standard has become so low that they allowed a pathetic girl like you to be a shinobi. If those other shinobis in Konoha are like you, I have no doubt that it will be reduced into nothing soon. If you meet enemy shinobi, what will you do? Pout at them and ask them to leave you alone?" he snorted. "Unlikely, Haruno. If you can't do something simple like this you should quit being a shinobi. You're a nuisance. Shinobi world isn't for a naïve girl like you who only care about your hair, clothes, oh and not to forget: _love_," Naruto said the last part mockingly. Sakura was pale and gaping at his sharp words. She looked around and tried to find someone to help her, but she found Tazuna covered his face with his straw hat and turned around, while her silver haired sensei nodded at Naruto's word. Her heart sank when she saw her crush narrowed his eyes, staring at her as if she was a trash. Crying harder, she ran to the woods.

"Sheesh, what a waste of time she is," Naruto scoffed, not feeling a bit guilty at all. He continued skinning his rabbit and gave some of the raw meat to the waiting fox that happily tore it. Sasuke has already gone to fetch the wood Kakashi requested.

"You shouldn't say that, you know" the jounin scratched his hear.

Naruto snorted. "I only told her the truth. Whether or not she can accept it is her own problem," his bunshin appeared with the woods on its arms and it soon started the fire.

"Yes, but don't you think that it was a bit too much?"

"Just because she's smart memorizing all theories doesn't mean she is a good shinobi. If she can't face the reality when it faces her, it would be better for her not to become a shinobi. She can't fill her life with false hope and fantasies and she should've known it before she even decided to become a shinobi," Kakashi sighed and decided not to argue with the blond anymore.

Tazuna stayed silent as he neared the warmth of the fire, but still kept his distance with the genin who was roasting the rabbit meat. His stomach growled at the sight of Naruto who calmly eating his roasted meat and Kakashi who ate from his food can. Both shinobis raised their eyebrows at the blushing client.

"Er… do you by chance have other food for me, Kakashi-san?" he asked, feeling quite embarrassed.

Naruto shook his head in annoyance and continue eating his rabbit not caring that the old man's eyes were fixed on his meat longingly. Kakashi scratched his head and put down his food can pn the ground and rummaged his bag before giving another food can like his to the client. The Wave's citizen eyed the offered food before looking at the jounin.

"I can't open it," he said bluntly. Kakashi took a kunai from his pouch and opened the can easily.

"With our speed right now we will arrive at a small town tomorrow afternoon. You'd better buy your own food. Our mission is to escort you to Wave country, not feeding you," Tazuna could detect a small annoyance in the shinobi-s tone and quickly nodded. "Good!" Sasuke was back with an arm full of woods. He put it on a pile near the fire and ate the onigiris he brought from Konoha in silence. There was still no sign of Sakura anywhere.

Finishing his food quickly in a secluded area where the others couldn't see his face behind the mask, Kakashi decided to search for the girl. It would be bad on his record if he let one of his first genin team died in her first C-class mission because she was lost and got eaten by wild animals. Naruto eyed the leaving jounin for a moment before snorting to himself and went back to his own food. His fox that already finished its own meal yawned and settled itself in Naruto's lap. Tazuna looked at it in disbelief, wondering why a cute animal like it could be so comfortable in the devil boy's presence.

When the Kyuubi boy finished eating he licked the blood on his hands, which was a lot since he hadn't wash his hand after he skinned the rabbit, making Tazuna went all green and put down his food can. His appetite was killed the moment he saw it. Sasuke looked unnerved for a moment before composing himself.

Naruto settled himself on a strong branch to sleep, while the fox was already gone on its own merry way. Two of his team members still haven't come back yet, but he could have careless with that, so he closed his eyes and drifted to sleep.

2 hours later, he was awake when Kakashi called his name. Naruto landed on the ground smoothly and walked toward Kakashi's voice.

He found all members of team 7, including the red-faced girl (because of crying, not blushing), and Tazuna have already gathered around the fire.

"Ah, Naruto sit down," Kakashi said to his student. The blond sat across him. "I gathered you here to tell you the night shift for our journey."

"Let me be the first guard," the blond said firmly.

"…Alright. Whose next?" he asked the others.

"I will," Sasuke informed. Kakashi raised his eyebrow curiously. The Uchiha boy never volunteered for anything before.

"Okay, then Sakura will be the last one to guard," the girl shrank on her seat. Kakashi rolled his eyes inwardly. Apparently Naruto's words still have gotten her down. "…with me," she flashed a relief smile to the silver haired shinobi.

The son of White Fang really didn't need a low esteemed student right now. Hopefully she wouldn't be reduced to something like the Hyuuga heir who was under Kurenai's watch. Now THAT would be a problem! He has met with the Hyuuga child and to say that she was shy was an understatement.

"Alright, let's sleep now. Naruto wake Sasuke up after 3 hours."

"Yes, yes," he waved his hands lightly.

Noting that all of them already slept, Naruto took a scroll from his backpack and read it. He already scattered his bunshins around to be on the look out, so he didn't need to worry about any trespasser. When 3 hours has passed, he woke Sasuke and went to sleep.

The next morning, the blonde genin stirred when he heard the birds chirping loudly. He yawned and jumped down from the branch he slept on and stretched his muscles. He walked to the fire only to find Kakashi was reading an orange book, giggling shamefully, and Sakura was… sleeping. Checking his watch, he noted that it was half past five in the morning.

"What the! She should be guarding right now, not sleeping!" Naruto shouted loudly, waking the others up, including the kunoichi. "Oi Haruno, what the fuck are you doing?" he glared at the guilt stricken girl. "Right now is still your shift. Are you so useless that you can't do something like this right?"

"Maa, maa, she's tired, Naruto. So I let her to sleep," Kakashi tried to dissuade the situation, only to find his plan backfired.

"You what? God dammit, Hatake, you should make her do her own job. If you don't start to handle her hard, she would be even more useless than now. And I have no use for a nuisance like her," she was sobbing right now making Naruto roll his eyes in exasperation.

Was she such a crybaby before this? It seems that she became worse as time went on. If she didn't stop her useless crying right now, he'd kill her himself and used her as food for his pets, especially Kibi that would no doubt accept it eagerly.

He saw Tazuna went to go to the wood possibly to take a pee. "Ah, old man I have planted—"

A scream cut the air and scared birds away.

"…put traps there, so you should be careful…" Naruto continued. His warning came late.

Team 7 (except Naruto who shrugged as if it was nothing to worry about) dashed toward Tazuna, hoping that Naruto's trap didn't kill their client. Thankfully, none of the kunai hit the bridge builder, but one came close to the spot between his legs. It was easy to say that he was mentally scarred for life and started to act even edgier toward the blond genin, if that was even possible.

The journey continued and after days in the road Naruto had to watch his temper. His patience limit was being tested. It was a miracle that he still had patience dealing with the useless girl and didn't kill her right in the spot. Stupid sandaime and his promise not to kill any Konoha people who didn't attack him!

He raised an eyebrow when he spotted a suspicious looking puddle on the road. He almost laughed at the pathetic attempt of genjutsu, but held himself. It seemed that he would have a new toy to direct his anger on.

Smiling he casually took a small tube from his pouch. It was filled with red powder. He poured half of it on the puddle and waited for any reaction patiently. The others still walked in front of him.

"UUAUARRRRGGHH!" 2 hidden shinobis shrieked. The group turned around when they heard it and all except Kakashi looked surprised to see them. The 2 shinobis scratched their bodies hard and rolled on the ground painfully.

"Naruto, what did you use on them?" Kakashi walked closer.

"Just some combination of my own made itching powder plus poison that will make their skins become more sensitive. Quite handy! Want to try it?" he brought the tube in front of Kakashi's eyes.

Kakashi took a glance at the screaming shinobis and then at the red powder. He was really glad that the blond didn't use it on his traps on their meetings. "Are you not afraid to touch it yourself? Do you have an antidote?"

"Why should I? I'm immune of it. I don't make something that I couldn't handle on my own and let others use it on me. If the other people couldn't handle it, it's their own problem not mine, but I do have an antidote."

"Could you use it on them? We need to interrogate them," Kakashi was careful not to touch the remaining powder in the 2 shinobis' bodies while he tied them with ropes.

An evil smile plastered on Naruto's face. He took out another tube from his pouch. It was smaller and instead of powder, there was bluish liquid inside it.

"Do you want this? It is the antidote for the poison I used on you," the two nodded furiously. "BUT you have to tell us everything you know, oh and you have to choose one of you…" Kakashi raised any eyebrow curiously. "I only have an antidote for one.single.person," he finished with a smirk. "So you should choose carefully. Your life or your comrade's? I need to remind you that if the poison stayed on your body longer, you will die, rather painfully and slowly I might add."

All of them, including his own group especially Sakura and Tazuna looked horrified at the revelation.

Naruto only chuckled.

TBC…

My Naruto version is really evil, ne? Oh and this version of itching powder is even more itchy than the one Naruto used on Sasuke. Add with other combination that makes victim's skin more sensitive, it is quite painful and is a rather dangerous substance. Definitely not to be used on prank, except if they want the victim suffer, of course.

R&R! R&R! R&R!

You read, you review!

Next would be the battle between Zabuza and team 7! Wait for it!


	10. Part Ten

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Pot—erm…sorry wrong section! I mean: I don't own Naruto.

Author's Note: I have a bad news for both of us. I will update my fics slower. And before you yell at me, you just had to know that I have logical reason. After mid exam, I got more lessons and the problem is even before the exam my schedule is already tight as it is. Right now, 3 of my lessons give me torturous hours and I don't think I can finish all assignments. I don't get enough sleep and I'm pretty snappish.

_Sigh _Why did I ever enter architecture again? Oh yeah right, because of my dad who 'asked' me to. Ugh I don't think I can get good mark this semester (not that I get good mark in previous semesters. I only got average. At least it wasn't bad mark though I failed one of my lessons in 1st semester).

The other thing that made me angry was that I lost a part of this fic (the fighting part) that I wrote because the light went out as I wrote the fic in my computer! Problem was that I didn't know that I lost that part (because the computer was supposed to automatically recover the fic, so I decided to go back to sleep instead of writing again) until the time where I wanted to continue writing this again (which is now). And at that time, I had completely forgotten what I had written. That's why I decided to cut this story. The fight between Zabuza and Naruto will be in the next story. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Oh well, enough chit-chat. Hopefully you'll enjoy it.

Part Ten

Team 7 and Tazuna watched as boils started to sprout from the two who were called as Demon Brothers in disbelief and horror, while Naruto seemed interested at the effect of the antidote. After mentally scaring them to choose between themselves, while the actual antidote was enough for them, Naruto made them drink the antidote after saying that he was only joking, making his group members facefaulted for succeeding in lying and scaring them all. The 2 ex-Mist shinobis were indeed not trying to scratch themselves anymore, the problem was... boils started to sprout and made them feel like being burned.

"YOU LIED TO US!" one of them accused the amused Naruto.

"Actually, no I didn't. It was indeed the antidote, but I don't know that there would be these… side effects, for the lack of better word. Hm…I should've thought of it. Anyway thanks for being my guinea pig. The special itching powder and its antidote are my fairly new products and I haven't had the time to test them yet. But thanks to you, I will have the data I need soon to improve them. Hold your hand—oh, sorry, I forget that you were bound," the blonde genin mocked as he took out a syringe and jabbed it roughly, not wanting to be gentle on the prisoners, on the one who shouted before Kakashi could intercept. A painful scream rang on the air.

Naruto collected the blood on a plastic tube with a pleased smile on his face. "Hatake, you can send them to Konoha now. By the way, tell Ibiki I expect my payment later afterall this two are missing-nins."

Kakashi shot a curious glance at Naruto. "You know Ibiki?"

"Of course, I need guinea pigs and Ibiki is always happy to use my products on his prisoners. He gets answer from them and I get my payment. It is an ideal way of earning money. Genin's payment just plain sucks!"

"Kakashi-sensei, who is this Ibiki?" Sakura asked after being silent for so long.

"Morino Ibiki, he's the Head of Interrogation. An advice: Stay away from him!" the jounin instructor warned.

"Nonsense, he's only cruel to his…victims, he just likes to intimidate people and boy did he like to do that to everyone," Naruto said amusedly. "And by the way…" he turned to Tazuna who flinched at the narrowed eyes fixed on him. "Mind tell us the truth or should I use some tricks that Ibiki taught me?"

"Yes, we'd like to hear it too," the silver haired jounin said firmly, ignoring the pleading look sent on his way.

The bridge builder sighed. "Do you know Gatou?"

"The name seems familiar," Kakashi trailed off.

"A criminal lord who sell drugs, monopoly markets in some place, and have a big role in the black market everywhere," Naruto answered. The other four looked at him in surprise.

"You know him, Naruto?"

"Know him? No. Know _of_ him? Yes. Unlike Haruno over there I'm not just reading ninja theory," she winced at the jab. "Plus Ibiki is a good source of information."

"I see," Kakashi nodded. "And what about him?" he turned back to the sweating Tazuna.

"Actually I think I know. Wave is a poor archipelago country. They need to trade if they want to flourish. Gatou must have seen it. He probably isolated Wave and monopoly the transportation over there and since old man here is a bridge builder of course he wanted his head separated from his body for décor on his house, a trophy you could say," Tazuna and the other shinobis gaped openly at the smirking boy.

"Is he right?"

"…Yes," the Wave citizen admitted. "We can only afford C-rank mission. Even our own daimyo didn't have money! Please, you have to help us or we are doomed. When the bridge is finished, Wave will be able to pay for a higher rank mission!"

Kakashi scratched his head. "The problem isn't the money. We're only a genin team, a new one at that. We should go back to Konoha and request a chunnin or jounin team for this job."

"No way, I want to get out of Konoha longer!" you guessed who shouted.

"And we're perfectly capable handling this mission," Sasuke added firmly, wanting a chance to try out his technique in real battle.

"…I think we should take this mission, Kakashi-sensei," Kakashi stared in surprise at the pink haired girl. He thought that she wanted to back away from the mission, especially after Naruto's hurtful words. It seemed that she had a backbone afterall.

Kakashi looked at his genin team. The boys were glaring while the girl sent him a pleading look. With a sigh he nodded. "Alright, but I _will_ request another genin team from Konoha," he held out his hands when Sasuke opened his mouth to protest. Naruto didn't care since he only wanted to get away from Konoha. "If you refuse, I won't accept this mission," he told him firmly. Sasuke scowled, but didn't say anything. Kakashi summoned his fastest messenger dog and sent it to Konoha. "Let's go."

0-0 0-0 0-0

Naruto smirked when he heard his fox yipped. Ever since the revelation yesterday the group was always alert, even Haruno didn't fall asleep on her shift.

The red fox brushed its tail to Naruto's leg. He soon received 2 images from his 2 other foxes in the forest. One of the images was that of a big man with an equally big sword. There was a slashed Mist hitae-ate on his forehead. The other guy in the other hand was much smaller. He was wearing a mask with Mist symbol on it. 'Mist hunter-nin?' his fox yipped and shook its small head. 'Ah…so the smaller guy has the scent of the bigger guy. His disguised subordinate then. Probably making sure nothing goes wrong or to spy on us. They're pretty clever,' the red fox jumped to Naruto's shoulder and purred. Naruto chuckled and feed it and the other 2 foxes via the red fox his chakra as a thanks. The fox purred in contentment and yipped telling Naruto that its other friends appreciated the gift. "Anytime, my friend. Anytime," Naruto petted the fox.

"I'm going to scout ahead," was what he said before he disappeared.

"Should we wait for him?" Sakura asked.

"Hn, leave him alone. He's only a nuisance," the Uchiha heir scoffed.

"Actually he isn't nuisance, but Sasuke is right. Leave him, I'm sure Naruto will be able to find us," the group left Naruto.

"Kakashi-sensei, is Naruto's clan has the ability to speak with fox just like Inuzuka clan's ability to speak with dog?" Sakura asked curiously. Sasuke turned his head to Kakashi also wanted to know his answer.

"As far as I know, Naruto didn't come from any clan. It's his own ability, I think," Kakashi was thinking of Kyuubi.

**With Naruto**

Naruto jumped to the branch 50 meters from the big shinobi silently. Instead of repressing his chakra, he blended it with nature's own chakra. Repressing his chakra would be enough for lesser shinobi, but the man in front of him was a battle-hardened shinobi with many experiences. An alert shinobi of this kind would immediately felt the change in chakra environment because repressing chakra meant that there was a void in the nature. And instead of hiding it would make it easier for him to pin point his location.

Naruto took out his bingo book he got from Ibiki and searched for the man's data incase he was one of the shinobis who was written there. He smirked when he got the data.

His name is Zabuza, one of the seven Swordsmen of the Mist. He became missing-nin after trying to take over Mist and failed. Mizukage warranted him, dead or alive. The reward was high because he was categorized as an A-class missing-nin.

Naruto closed his book. He didn't search for Zabuza's subordinate's data because he was wearing a mask. If he wanted to know the smaller guy's identity it would mean that he had to fight him. What to do? Should he finish the man and his subordinate here, or should he let them have a taste of Kakashi and his team? Well, he did want to see what Kakashi and the Uchiha capable of…

With a smirk he left Zabuza and headed back to his group.

"Do you find anything?" his sensei asked.

"None of your interest, Hatake," he replied with a smirk. Kakashi narrowed his eyes in suspicion.

"No really. I _insist_! Whether it is of my interest of not, I will be the one to decide," the ex-anbu demanded.

"You can insist, but that doesn't mean I will comply," the bright blue orbs stared intently at Kakashi's eyes.

"San—"

"And don't ever think to bring the old man into this! My deal with him stated that I will join Konoha's shinobi, but it doesn't state that I will be Konoha's lapdog," the boy sneered maliciously. "I know that you know I despise Konoha with all my heart."

"Then you shouldn't agree with the deal sandaime offered to you," Naruto's father's student pointed out.

"If it meant my whole freedom from that hell hole, I can sacrifice anything. Beside even if the old man didn't offer it, I will get out of Konoha in time."

"You plan on becoming a missing-nin?" the jounin asked sharply, there was an underlying threatening tone on his voice. The others only looked back and forth between them. The temperature dropped a few degrees in such short time.

"What?" Naruto narrowed his eyes. A cruel smirk was plastered on his face. "You don't think I never consider it before? Of course I have thought and even planned of it for years."

"Do you think that no hunter-nin will be dispatched to fetch or kill you even if you're still a genin?"

"Oh, please…Do you think they can do anything to me? I have learned to harness _that_ power, if you catch my drift, and I am able to fight without it," he heard a gasp came out of the instructor's mouth.

"You know about it?"

"What does it look like?" Naruto asked back.

"You _do _know about it."

"Of course I am. Don't you think I'll try to find out something that made all of those pathetic people despise me just like I despise them?"

"Actually…no. And how did you know about it? I'm sure that no adult will tell you about it because of the law, and they hated you."

"I got the information straight from its source of course," Naruto smirked cheekily. His team's jounin sensei seemed at lost of anything to say as the realization of what he said dawned on his brain. Naruto had come in contact with the fox demon!

"Will you try to get revenge? Or are you just that power-hungry that you contact _this _source?"

"I don't really care about power," Konoha White Fang's son stared at him in disbelief. Naruto continued, "But if power is what I need to get my freedom, then I'll do anything to grab it. As for revenge, yes, I do want to avenge my misery and unjustness done to me, although it was only a second priority after my freedom."

"Your father will be disappointed to see—" Kakashi's eyes widened, realizing that he had just slipped out.

Naruto raised an amused eyebrow, not even appeared to be a bit shocked. "Oh? So, you _do_ know who I am really?" Kakashi's eyes went wider if that was possible. Naruto chuckled. "You think I don't know of it? I have known about my _father_," he spat "Ever since I was still a kid. You and Konoha might think of him as a hero, but for me, he's nothing but a traitor to his own son," the other three were wondering who exactly was Naruto's father. "He sacrificed _me_, his only son."

"It's for the greater good," Kakashi tried to defend his former sensei.

Naruto scoffed. "Greater good, you say? Right now, I'm almost reaching my patient limit. I have a real high patience, you know. Afterall my whole life is kind of a test of how far I can take all of this crap. But even I don't have unlimited patience. If someone dared to cross the line, I'll make sure that when I'm done with them, my father in dead realm will realize that the so-called greater good isn't so great afterall and that he made a mistake sacrificing me to save those fools," he hissed. Naruto suddenly looked up and jumped from his spot when he heard the wind change.

"DUCK!" He heard Kakashi yelled as a huge sword was thrown to their direction. All three followed Kakashi's lead, while Naruto growled angrily on a tree for being interrupted.

The giant sword crashed the ground behind them. Naruto's acute eyes glared at where Zabuza stood. The missing-nin came out behind a tree with a chuckle.

"A squabble between student and teacher, I see," he said amusedly. "And Hatake Kakashi…no wonder the Demon Brothers failed. They faced against the infamous Copy Nin Kakashi whose sharingan was said that it had copied thousands of jutsu all around the world," The former Mist-nin said, not knowing that it was Naruto who finished them odd. Sasuke's eyes widened when he heard what the man called Kakashi.

"Impossible…" he muttered in disbelief. Sakura glanced at him worriedly, wondering what made her crush lost his composure like this.

"Sakura, Sasuke, guard Tazuna!" he snapped them out of their thoughts. The 2 genins scrambled on their feet and readied for an attack. "I suppose this is what you said as not of my interest?" the jounin eyed Naruto above him.

"Indeed…" Naruto growled as he eyed the missing-nin with anger. He really hated it when people always messed with him. "Do you know that it's rude to interrupt someone when he is talking?"

"Oh I'm sorry for my rudeness. I guess I have to introduce myself first, don't I?" the bandaged face man mocked.

"I have known who you are."

"Oh?" Zabuza raised an eyebrow, clearly surprised that a kid like him knew who he was. "I don't know that I am _that _famous."

"Not really, I just have a complete guide of shinobi's data, the bingo book. You're Zabuza, former Mist shinobi who went AWOL and became A-class missing-nin . You tried to overthrown your Mizukage, but failed and was on the run ever since. Have I missed anything important?" the blonde vessel grinned mockingly.

The fomer Mist shinobi growled at being reminded of his failure. "How dare you!" he hissed through his teeth.

"Hey, you're the one who acted rude first. You shouldn't complain! At first I intend to watch you fight Hatake and that Uchiha boy, but you infuriated me. Let's play!" Naruto smirked from above and vanished in an instant.

The missing-nin's eyes widened, before he scanned his environment for the blond to no avail.

Naruto reappeared in front of Zabuza. The Mist missing-nin's eyes widened as he held up his right arm to block a kick sent to his way. The kick wasn't connected to his face, but he still felt the impact as his body was pushed back a meter.

Realizing that his younger opponent was not just ordinary shinobi, Zabuza quickly retrieved his blade. He got into a fighting stance. The blonde boy stood in relaxed stance. A smirk was plastered on his face as he made a gesture for the older shinobi to attack him. Zabuza narrowed his eyes for a moment before he dashed toward the infuriating blond with a cry.

Kakashi and the others were standing on their spot as the battle commenced.

TBC…

For anyone who thinks that Naruto has a mood swing or something, you're right. Naruto isn't exactly …er…stable. He could be his in his usual 'irritating' mode as kakashi dubbed, to 'die' scumbag!' mode if someone push the wrong button there.

For the ones out there who think that Naruto will train Sakura to be better, you're definitely wrong. Naruto will kill her first simply because she exists and for being annoying, before even considering to train her. If Sakura wants to be better, she has to do it on her own.

Don't forget to send me your review!


	11. Part Eleven

Disclaimer: Obviously Naruto isn't mine, or I wouldn't be writing a FANfiction right now.

Author's Note: Here's the fight that I promised you! I should have posted it at Wednesday, November 2, 2005, but there was no Internet café opened because of Idul Fitri holiday. That left me wondering what I should do in my spare time.

Part Eleven

Sasuke stepped forward wanting a chance to test himself against an A-class missing-nin from the Mist, but his jounin sensei held out his hand and stopping him from walking further. The dark haired genin turned at Kakashi and gave him a death glare.

"Don't you want to see what Naruto capable of?" the jounin asked him. Sasuke thought of it for a moment before nodding and stepped back. The 4 people watched as the battle between their blonde teammate and Zabuza started.

The blonde genin disappeared from his spot above. The others wildly looking around, trying to locate the boy to no avail. Naruto reappeared in front of the shocked missing-nin who couldn't believe that he didn't hear the sound of his footsteps. With a reflex honed by his years of experience, Zabuza held out his arm to block the kick sent to his way. He succeeded blocking it, but he was pushed a meter from his original spot.

Zabuza quickly jumped and reached for his sword. As he took it, his eyes narrowed as he watched the smirking blonde intently. His opponent held out his finger and made a gesture for the older shinobi to come and get him if he could.

It seemed that the blonde genin wasn't just an ordinary sinobi. His eyes darted toward the others who kept their footings around Tazuna, protecting the bridge builder. It appeared that the copy-nin had no intention to help his genin student, but the Swordman of the Mist knew that if the situation went bad, the Konoha jounin would interfere.

Growling softly at the disadvantage he was in, Zabuza made 10 mizu bunshins around him and ordered them to attack the younger shinobi. "Mizu bunshin no jutsu," he said softly.

A second after he said it, the blond made a seal. "Kage bunshin no jutsu," Naruto whispered softly so Zabuza didn't hear him saying it, making the same number of shadow clones to fight off the water clones made by the missing-nin. "Your water clones are useless. You're just wasting your chakra. Give up or face the consequences," Naruto scrunched his eyebrows. "On the other hand…don't give up, because I will take pleasure torturing you," he said cheekily.

Zabuza scoffed. "You're a hundred years too early to say that, brat!" Both shinobis made a gesture and their clones clashed.

Zabuza's eyes narrowed further as he watched each of his water bunshin was destroyed by its opponent. A dawning realization came to his mind that right now he was facing a shinobi who could use this particular kinjutsu. He had seen this jutsu performed before in the Great War, but mostly the shinobi who could use this technique were adults who had more chakra than others, seeing that this jutsu needed much chakra to maintain. His water clone only had a tenth power of its original, but shadow clone had the same power of the original.

'This kid is good. He could actually be a match against Haku,' he thought.

"Hey brat, you're good," he complimented. The blond only shrugged indifferently. "Why did you join Konoha's shinobi rank when you're already strong and hate them?" he baited the genin. Zabuza's eyes caught the copy-nin stiffened at his question. "Why don't you come with me? You could be great under my tutelage."

"Naruto laughed in amusement. "Come with you? Under your tutelage? Did I hear you right or are you just plain senile? Who do you think you are? I'm not a fool. You're weaker than me. There's nothing you can teach me, beside the old man has offered me a better deal. Your time's up! You should pay for interrupting me rudely. It's unfortunate for you, a water user shinobi, to meet me," the blond smirked.

Zabuza was seething inside. How dare this imbecile said that he was weaker! The missing-nin made another batch of water clones and dispatched them to deal with the shadow clones. Even if his clones couldn't win against his shadow clones, he could use them as distraction. He dashed toward the blue-eyed genin. The missing-nin stiffened and jumped backward when he felt a weapon was thrown to his direction from his left. He watched Kakashi left his spot with a kunai on his hand. "I thought you didn't want to interfere with this battle," he stated.

"Your thought is wrong. I change my mind," was his only explanation.

"Don't interfere with this fight, Hatake!" Naruto snapped.

"You're a member of my team and I have a duty to help you, beside I'm your superior."

"Do you think I can't handle him on my own?" the demon vessel growled dangerously. A flash of red flickered from his eyes so fast that Zabuza thought that he was imagining it.

A scream of terror and 2 gasps from behind the silver haired jounin caught their attention. The 2 Leaf shinobis watched Sasuke fought against 4 water clones, while Tazuna was knocked unconscious. Sakura on the other hand, was being held by a water clone with a sharp kunai pressed against her throat.

"SAKURA!" Kakashi shouted. He wanted to smack himself for being so careless. Naruto only scowled.

"Don't you think you get the wrong target?" Naruto raised an eyebrow as he glanced at the knocked out Tazuna pointedly. Sasuke finished out the last clone with a spin kick. He growled in annoyance when he saw the trembling pink haired kunoichi being held as hostage.

"I don't think so. But he's only a client, while she's your teammate. Drop your weapons or she will die," the missing-nin warned.

Naruto started to laugh, slowly at first, before it became a full-blown laughter. After a minute of non-stop laughter and incredulous eyes sent on his way, Naruto stopped and opened his cold blue eyes. His eyes narrowed as he stared at the missing-nin seriously.

"Do you think I care for that useless girl? Go ahead, kill her. I won't stop you. She's a nuisance and it will be a great relief to have that burden lift from my shoulder, that way I don't have to do it on my own," the girl shivered at such coldness displayed by her uncaring teammate. The clone that held Sakura pressed the kunai a bit making her flinched as a drop of blood seeped out from the slice. Naruto watched it coldly, but a crazed smirk was plastered on his face. The real Zabuza stared at the boy and knew from right there that he wasn't joking. Sasuke and Kakashi tensed.

"NARUTO!"

The blond's eyes shifted to the silver haired jounin in annoyance. "What?" he snapped. "Save your lecture, Hatake. I don't need it and pay your attention to Zabuza instead of to the girl. If she still lives after this it would be a good experience for her and motivate her to become stronger so she won't be such a burden or better yet to stop being a shinobi. The world doesn't have a need for useless kunoichi. If not, well…too bad for her then, she just has to hope that she die painlessly," he smirked as his eyes turned to the other genin. "The advice could be applied to you too, Uchiha. There won't be anyone to save your 'noble' arse if you screwed this."

Sasuke sneered. "Nor will I save your sorry ass," the dark haired genin snapped harshly. He was ticked off by Naruto's statement. Both genins turned their attentions to the real Zabuza, leaving only Kakashi to worry about the pink haired girl. The girl sobbed quietly when she realized that she was abandoned by her teammates, and to make it worse one of them was her crush.

The kyuubi vessel took out 2 kunais from his pouch, twirled them for a moment before he channeled his chakra on the metals. The kunais were suddenly engulfed by red fire. The fire danced wildly before it solidified around the weapon, creating what looked like to be 2 blazing swords.

Sasuke watched the event take place in front of his eyes with wide eyes. He could feel the terrible heat emanating from the weapons. He gritted his teeth in envy and jealousy, wondering how a supposed dead last like him could do a thing he couldn't do. He was the heir of Uchiha clan, a fire user clan. It should be him who controlled the fire, not this boy whose heritage wasn't known!

Naruto gripped the scorching hot weapon on his palms without flinching. The metals were scorching red from absorbing and coming in contact with the hot fire around them. The blonde boy frowned. He needed to train his chakra control better. The weapons weren't supposed to look as if they would melt soon. It should look like as if nothing happened to the metals. Naruto had to hold back his blue fire from forming around the kunais, knowing that the weapons wouldn't be able to stand the heat. The weapons on his hands were barely able to handle the heat of his red fire as it was. Either he had to start improving his chakra control or he had to find better quality kunais.

A water clone near his right was slowly dissolved into air as the heat evaporated the water.

"So that was what you mean that a water user like me was unlucky to meet you," Zabuza stared at the weapons on his hands.

Naruto smirked. "It was fun to meet you, but I think I have to cut this meeting short. Let's dance!" the blonde boy dashed toward the missing-nin. His water clones ran to intercept their creator's assaulter.

The first clone threw shurikens to Naruto, only to have him deflect those ninja weapons by twisting his kunai sword to make a shield. Naruto sliced the clone in two, the body part of the clone where his kunais touched evaporated. Naruto tilted his head to the left to avoid a kunai send on his way. "Not enough," the boy murmured. He channeled more chakra to the kunai on his right hand and slashed it horizontally. Hot air rippled from the sword and cut through 5 clones, while the rest jumped to avoid it. Knowing they had no chance to defeat him alone, all of them jumped with kunai on their hands.

Naruto grinned wickedly. He deepened his contact with the ground below. Red fire formed a circle around his feet before it started to rise to the air around him like tornado. The fire danced around his body catching the clones in the air and evaporated them. Naruto kept the fire a half meter around him to avoid his clothes being burnt. He himself didn't have a problem with fire, but his clothes would be burnt. And he didn't want to be naked in front of anyone else. "Got more?" an amused eyebrow raised toward Zabuza.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto watched from the corner of his eyes that Kakashi had saved Sakura, destroying the clone when its mind was elsewhere. He scoffed before he turned back to his opponent.

"It seems that you no longer have hostage," the blonde boy taunted.

"It doesn't matter. Kirigakure no jutsu," a thick mist covered the area.

"Your attempt is futile. I am used fighting in area with no light. Do you think a mere mist can stop me? Beside it can be dispatched easily. Though I haven't learned any wind jutsu yet, I have another method," the kyuubi vessel grabbed his wires from the pouch on his pants, attaching them to kunais and launched them to the trees for anchor. Tying one of the wires around his blazing kunai, he launched the rest of his wires to the air, each of them connected with others, supporting the weight of the blazing kunai. Feeling that the burning kunai was high enough, he channeled his chakra through the wires. The air above around the kunai became hot. Wind started to form as the air from the area with cooler temperature rose to the sky where hot air gathered. The mist was starting to dissipate.

"That's just one of the simple methods to counter your kirigakure no jutsu. Care to try other ways? I have enough spare time. Amuse me," Naruto said cheekily, as he stopped channeling his chakra. The fire stopped dancing around the now melted kunai, revealing scorched marks on it. The blonde genin tugged the wires; the kunais working as anchors tensed at they moved to unfurl the ties. The wires stiffened as the chakra channeled through them. Team 7 watched in disbelief as the wires moved as if they had lives on their own, even Kakashi stopped taking care of Sakura's wound. He couldn't believe that his sensei's son has reached this level.

Zabuza took a step back. He could handle many kunais simultaneously, but could he handle all of those 'living' wires that could move as if they had a mind on their own? He cursed inwardly. How could a genin boy like him have this kind of power? He should be an anbu or hunter-nin, not a mere genin! And to add his problem, he hadn't defeated the copy-nin yet. He needed more time to plan!

Just as he thought that, the wires slithered on the air like a snake toward him, kunais still dangling on their ends, aimed pointedly toward Naruto's opponent.

'Fast!' Zabuza braced himself. He slashed diagonally, hoping to cut the kunais from the wires. Naruto saw through this and channeled more chakra. A bluish chakra formed around the wires and shielded them from the cut. Zabuza's eyes widened as the wires met his blade head on. The kunais on the ends tensed and started to attack. Blood sprouted from all over the missing-nin's body as the kunais slashed him.

Zabuza gripped his sword tighter as he gritted his teeth. He deflected 4 kunais, but 2 of the wires curled around his sword. Red fire formed on the kunai and it channeled through the older-nin's blade. Shocked at the sudden hotness, the missing-nin released his grip from his sword and dropped to the floor. The wires around the blade threw the sword toward their controller. Naruto caught the Mist swordsman' sword with a smirk.

"You want to overthrow Mizukage with this ability? No wonder you failed," Naruto chuckled. "You're weak. I wonder if the rest of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist are as weak as you. I heard that the Mist Seven Swordsmen's' swords are special, each has unique power, but from what I saw, your sword is nothing special. Are you sure this sword is finished? Because it looks like ordinary sword for me, if only it has huge size to intimidate your opponent," Naruto planted the sword to the ground.

"You're right. This sword hasn't been finished yet," Zabuza stood up as he glared at the younger shinobi. Blood still dripped from his wounds.

"Really? That's interesting," Naruto's wires retreated. "You must be not much of a planner that you tried to overthrow Mizukage with unfinished sword," Naruto's eyes turned to the left when he felt Zabuza's subordinate who was being kept an eye on by his foxes, was readying himself for something.

Many senbons were thrown to Zabuza's body and imbedded themselves on his vital points. The missing-nin's eyes widened as he plummeted to the ground. Naruto raised his eyebrow. A soft yip from the forest told him that the missing-nin hasn't died yet. Naruto grinned at the subordinate's devious plan to trick him and the rest of team 7.

A shinobi with hunter-nin mask jumped to the ground where Zabuza was located. He took the missing-nin's body and was ready to jump when Naruto's wires coiled around him like a snake. The hunter-nin tensed as he turned around to face the blond.

"Where will you go with _my _prey's body?" he asked cheerfully.

"Naruto, stop it! He's a Mist hunter-nin. It was his duty to kill his village's rogue ninja," Kakashi told him.

"You might be right, Hatake, but Zabuza is my prey and I won't let him go easily. I was ready to finish him when this man interfered with my fight. If he wanted easy prey, he shouldn't take it from me. It would be a bad idea," inwardly Naruto chuckled at his acting. "If he wanted to play his part as a scavenger, then he should wait until I finish with Zabuza. I won't let him go away with my prize."

"If you want to get the money reward, you could ask the Mist administrative in Water country," the masked nin said. "I will tell them that Zabuza was killed by you."

"Empty words. How do I know that you will do it? No, I think I'll stick on my first plan. I'll use this dear product of mine to decompose his body and behead his head as a proof," a transparent glass tube with black liquid was in Naruto's finger. The hunter-nin stiffened, making Naruto chuckled harder inwardly.

Red slitted eyes opened inside Naruto's mind. The demon blinked before sighing in exasperation. Sometimes, it wondered who was saner between it and its vessel.

"You can't do that. Mist still needs information from his body."

"I don't give a damn. There's nothing written in the bingo book that said that Zabuza's body must be intact."

The hunter-nin was silent for a moment before he removed a brown leather pouch from his clothes. "There's half of the money reward amount here. You can get the rest in Mist administrative office. I will give you this if you let me go with his body."

"And what if I think to kill you, get your money, and get the reward full amount from Mist village?"

"You won't or you'll risk a war between Mist and Leaf," he said convincingly.

Naruto grinned. "Clever," the masked-nin threw the pouch only to be intercepted by one of the wires. After making sure that the pouch indeed contained money instead of trap, Naruto released the wires around the older nin's body. The black haired shinobi nodded before he vanished with Zabuza's body, leaving the tall man's sword beside Naruto.

Naruto chuckled. "I look forward for our next meeting, _hunter-_san," he muttered softly. The genin turned to face team 7. "Let's go, our job is finished here," he left the sword alone, knowing that Zabuza's subordinate would take the sword and hopefully got someone to finish the sword. He was so looking forward to fight against stronger Zabuza with a completed sword and his subordinate.

And when the time came, he wouldn't give them any mercy.

TBC…

I had to think for so long to make Zabuza and Haku could get away from team 7 and actually followed the canon story a bit. And for people who thought Sakura should've just died: she still has a role! I don't just made her real bad with no reason, you know. This story isn't a Sakura-bashing story.

You may think that I make Naruto super strong since Kakashi himself was knocked out in his fight against Zabuza, but I think that wasn't Kakashi's real capability. I thought that in canon, Kakashi was playing around and underestimating Zabuza. He could just use his own jutsu arsenal rather than exposing his sharingan to make Sasuke knew that he had sharingan and hoped that the genin would ask for his help.

Spoiler for later chapter: Gatou hires more missing-nin since he knows that Zabuza isn't enough. Kakashi actually train his students especially Sakura hard. Inari meets with Naruto. And the team Kakashi requested arrives.


	12. Part Twelve

Disclaimer: If I claim Naruto, there will be someone out there will want to kill me, and I still want to live, thank you very much, or at least for now.

Author's Note: Since I have nothing else better to do in this holiday, I decide to write a part of this chapter. My knees and calves (and sometimes my butt and of course not to forget my eyes) are hurting. I think I spent too much time sitting in front of computer.

And I make a new omake! Enjoy!

**Omake:**

Naruto was 7 years old at the time when he met Gai. The jounin with bowl haircut slapped his back numerous times when he was building sand palace. At that time Naruto was hoping to find solace, when the jounin suddenly emerged out of the blue one day and started with his youth ranting. This was the third day in row he appeared in the park. Needless to say Naruto was quite annoyed.

Experimenting for a week for a new potion he could use to extract his revenge, Naruto succeeded in concocting the potion. It was transparent liquid, with no smell, just like normal water, but it had secret function that only Naruto and later other people including Gai knew.

He was ready with his makeshift bow and arrow, made from the sturdy and yet whippy branch he found on the woods. When he walked to the park, the jounin was there, scaring other children though obviously he didn't realize that. Naruto jumped toward a tree in the north side of the park, quite far from where the future instructor of Lee was standing. A thin rubber ball he bought on a stand whose owner didn't know about Kyuubi was on his palm. Only instead of air or water, it was filled with his special liquid. A liquid that he intended to splash Gai no matter what happened.

Naruto tied the rubber ball to his arrow and put it on the bow. He carefully pulled the bowstring, one eye closed as he targeted Gai and his tongue licked the corner of his lips. He let loose the arrow, and just like he thought the man slashed the arrow and the rubber ball with what the jounin thought as a hero pose. The liquid splashed on Gai. The jounin with green spandex swept the water from his face and rubbed it to his spandex with a grin.

"What a good plan you've done! I, Maito Gai, Konoha's taijutsu specialist compliment you, whoever you are!" Naruto moved from his spot and walked to a deserted alley where he still could see the park clearly, a camera was on his hand.

A minute later a simultaneous 'Eww!' and catcalls were heard from the children's lips. Naruto flashed his camera, as the device took photos of his newest victim.

The next day, Morino Ibiki handed over some money from his wallet to Naruto for the photos, with a wide satisfied grin. He spread the photos to his other ninjas who quickly laughed at Gai's misfortune for being picked as the new victim of the infamous prankster.

In the photos, Gai's infamous green spandex was deteriorating, leaving him covering his 'goods' in embarrassment as he dashed to his house in what the shinobis later would call a record breaking speed.

Parents demanded Gai to be turned over to them for what they call 'corrupting' their children to the amused sandaime, who obviously didn't give Gai to the furious parents, knowing exactly what pain they would inflict to the poor if only 'a bit' passionate jounin.

Gai's face wasn't seen until 2 weeks after he succeeded rebuilding his self-confidence to walk in public. And even after that he had to be careful to avoid furious parents for another week.

The End

Part Twelve 

"Pitiful," Naruto said bluntly as team 7 and Tazuna swept through the town. Broken homes littered around the way. People walked around with dead eyes, dirty clothes, and children begged for food to quench their hunger. The people here looked as if they had no future and merely waited for their time to die. He snorted before turning his attention back to the road.

A man bumped him and muttered apology, but before he could go, Naruto caught his wrist and twist it painfully. Naruto took his fox wallet (AN: hell yeah, no more Gama-chan!) casually as the man wailed. "If you want to steal, do it to someone else," was what he said before he left the man writhing on the ground, cradling his wrist. Team 7 and Tazuna wisely kept their mouths shut at the blatant display of violence and cruelness.

When they arrived at their destination, which was Tazuna's house, a kind looking black haired woman opened the door. Her face brightened when she saw the bridge builder's face and ushered her father and the 4 guests inside. The woman called for her son loudly. A scowling boy entered the room. His frown changed into a happy smile when he saw his grandfather and dashed toward him. Tazuna petted his head for a moment before he introduced his companions. The scowl was planted once again to the boy's face.

"Why don't you understand that no one will be able to beat Gatou. They would die for sure! They're useless!" a vein throbbed on Naruto's forehead as he stared at the yelling boy in annoyance.

"INARI!" his mother admonished. The child's glare turned toward his mother before he turned around and ran to his room. "I'm sorry for my son's rudeness. My name is Tsunami and I'm Tazuna's daughter. That boy you just saw is my son, Inari," she introduced herself, before taking them to eat. Her son refused to come out from his room, obviously brooding.

The food on the table was meager, but for Wave citizen it could be considered lavish dinner. It was consisted of 3 medium fishes, rice, and a pan of soup. None of team 7 complained as they ate quietly, knowing the state of this country and saw it first hand.

"Starting tomorrow, I will train all of you hard," Kakashi said after they finished eating.

"Don't you think it's a bit late for that?" Naruto said cheekily. The jounin glared, but the younger nin seemed to ignore it completely. "What training you're talking about?"

"It's tree walking."

"But sensei, we already know how to climb tree," Sakura told him, her voice was a bit hoarse because of the wound on her neck.

"I'll pas, I've already known to do this simple chakra control training," with that Naruto left the dinner room.

"Chakra control training?" Sasuke asked at last.

Kakashi nodded. "When I said tree walking, I wasn't joking. This is a training to use your chakra to stick your legs on tree and walked on it. You'll see how tomorrow," he said, knowing both genins want to know more. Both genins nodded reluctantly.

Sasuke entered the room he was supposed to stay in. There was already the blonde boy there, lying on the futon with both eyes closed. The dark haired genin stared at him for a moment, questions running through his head.

"If you want to ask me something, Uchiha, then ask! Your staring annoyed me," the Uchiha heir stiffened, knowing that he was caught.

"How did you become so strong?" he blurted out.

Naruto snorted. "Training of course, what else?"

"I don't believe it. There must be someone who taught you. And what was that with the fire?"

"What's with you today? So many questions," he teased.

"Answer me!"

Naruto's eyes narrowed. "Don't think you can demand anything from me, Uchiha. You might be Konoha's favourite, but for me you're nothing. If you want to act as a spoiled brat, do it somewhere else," Sasuke gritted his teeth.

"You're just a dead last!" Naruto laughed loudly when he said it.

"Dead last? It was this dead last who caught you on so many traps, it was this dead last whose clothes was clean when the missions handed to use over, and it was this dead last who defeated the A-class missing-nin, Zabuza, single-handedly. Tell me, Uchiha, if I'm a dead last, then what are you?" Sasuke didn't answer. "Precisely. For your information, the fire is my ability."

"There is no clan with that bloodline!"

"Now, there is, isn't it? And for my trainer, yes I do have a trainer."

"Who is he?"

"If you want him to train you, it's useless. He won't do it."

"Why?" he demanded.

Naruto sighed. Once a spoiled brat always a spoiled brat. "He doesn't like Konoha, and you're Konoha's favourite. He doesn't like spoiled brat, and you're a spoiled brat," Naruto smiled as Sasuke glared. "Beside you can't meet him, because he's inside my mind," Naruto tapped his forehead with a smirk.

"What do you mean with that?"

"Exactly like what I said. He's inside my mind."

"Don't make fun with me!" he shouted. A second later, Sasuke found himself pinioned on the wall by Naruto. His black eyes widened because he didn't see him move at all.

"What have I told you about being rude to me?" the freezing blue eyes pierced unto his onyx eyes.

Sasuke swallowed. "You don't," Naruto raised an eyebrow. "You only said not to demand anything from you," he pointed out. Inside his mind, Sasuke was wondering if he was sane, playing game with this dangerous genin. To his surprise, instead of being angry, the blonde boy chuckled.

"You do have a guts, Uchiha. I compliment you for that," the hand on his neck tightened and Sasuke had to gasp. "But next time you do it again, there won't be anyone stopping me from killing you. Consider yourself warned!" he released his hold on his teammate and put him down to the floor. Sasuke gasped deeply to breathe. His hand caressed his throat.

"An advice for you, Uchiha. If you want to become stronger, forget your revenge until you have become stronger. Your drive for revenge only makes you weaker. It distracted you from thinking clearly when you're supposed to be training."

"What do you know? You don't know anything!" he muttered softly, voice still hoarse after being held on his throat.

"Oh, I do know about it. I forget my revenge to Konoha. I still hate them if you want to know, but freedom is my 1st priority. Of course if anyone from Konoha try to attack me, I won't stay idle either," he smirked at the thought. "You said that you want to revive your clan, didn't you?" Sasuke stared at him for a moment before nodding. "Even if you succeed in killing your brother—"

"How did you know it was my brother?" he interrupted.

"From your data of course, what else? Oh, if you're thinking about finding my data, forget it. My data is completely classified. Back to my advice, even if you succeed in killing your brother, what if he kills you at the same time. That will mean: bye-bye reviving your clan. Well, this is only an advice, whether you follow it or not is up to you," with that Naruto went back to sleep.

Sasuke sat on his futon. More questions running through his mind. He glanced at his teammate, wondering why his data was classified and what he meant by his trainer was inside his mind. He was also wondering if his thirst for revenge was making him weaker. It certainly drove him to become stronger, but at the same time, just like Naruto said, it made him think not clearly. Was he supposed to forget his revenge at least until he became stronger just like Naruto suggested? But it wasn't as easy as saying it. He had become completely immersed on his revenge ever since Itachi slaughtered his clan, that he couldn't think of anything else to do.

Sasuke brought his hand to his throat. There was red mark on it, courtesy of Naruto. The blond was strong, he admitted. He wasn't dead last like he first thought. Even if he was a bit…er…insane, he knew what he had to do with his life.

Sasuke sighed. Perhaps…he would consider his advice. It wasn't like he would lose something if he did it.

With that in mind, the survivor of the Uchiha clan slaughtering drifted into dreamless sleep.

The next morning when Sasuke woke up, there was no trace of Naruto. Kakashi walked with Sasuke and Sakura toward the woods where their training would start. The copy-nin started to teach them the meaning of tree walking and how to do it. As expected, Sakura learned it quickly because of her small chakra reserve. With his mind clearer and no thought of his revenge, Sasuke improved quickly. He had to admit that he would probably have to learn it longer if Naruto didn't tell his advice, though he would rather die before he admitted it to his teammate.

Since Sakura had a good grasp on tree walking already, Kakashi added her training with taijutsu lesson to improve her reflex and strength. The girl for once didn't complain at all, knowing that she needed to be better or she would be a nuisance only. No longer did she want to rely on her teammates. They didn't care about her safety, so if she wanted to live, she had to it on her own. Her crush to her black haired teammate has diminished bit by bit gradually after knowing that it was just a fantasy. Sasuke didn't like her and wouldn't care if she lived or not. She became more withdrawn and silent but more determined to become stronger. Her inner self cheered her up, telling her that she didn't need any man.

The jounin instructor sighed at the now nonexistent teamwork, if there was teamwork at all in the first place. They certainly became stronger, but team 7 drifted apart. Each one strived to be stronger on their own, not caring the others.

Kakashi instructed the pink haired girl to do tree walking and throwing kunais or shurikens at the same time for hours everyday. That way her chakra reserve would expand and her accuracy would improve. The jounin also taught what he knew about sharingan to Sasuke incase he awoken his bloodline while the boy was doing tree walking.

The rest of team 7 was wondering what Naruto was doing on his own. In these 3 days, they only met him when dinner started. The boy's body was full of bruises and his clothes was dirty and he always brought fishes with him, but the morning later his bruises would be gone and he used different clothes that he must have bought from local shop, before he went on his way.

Today, it was Sakura's turn to guard the bridge builder. They went shopping for their dinner. The old man brought her to a food store. Sakura noted that even in the grocery, food was scarce. There were only some variations and even then the number was limited. She was startled when she turned around to watch the road only to find Naruto was walking casually. Some kids were following him, but he ignored them.

"Naruto-niisama, will you do it again?" a young girl exclaimed as she tugged his clothes. Sakura's heart went overdrive, thinking about what Naruto would do to the girl for that.

…Wait a second…did she said 'Naruto-NIISAMA'? Her wide green eyes were trained on Naruto. Her heart skipped when the boy turned toward the children who followed him. 'Oh my gosh, don't tell me, he's gonna kill them!' she screamed inwardly.

The next scene made her jaw dropped to the floor. Naruto, the cruel monster was smiling! Smiling! Not smirking! And to make the scene more unbelievable, it was a true smile, not an evil smile he reserved for people he was annoyed at. Sakura was wondering if someone put her on genjutsu. "Kai!" Nope, Naruto was still smiling as he patted the girl's head. "Holy shit! I can't believe it! Is this the same Naruto who is insane?" Either she was hallucinating, or this was real. Real? Yeah, right!

As if in trance she stepped forward to see Naruto and the children walked away. She was determined to follow them, completely forgetting about Tazuna, when someone tugged her skirt. She whipped her head and found another girl, even much younger than the one who followed Naruto, tugging her clothes. She didn't say anything as she put her palms out, asking for money. Sakura turned her head toward Naruto's direction, only to find him missing. Sighing, she sat on her knees and took out some candies from her bag and handed them out to the awaiting palms. The girl smiled happily before she thanked her and ran.

"Sakura-san?" Tazuna asked, concerned with the young genin. "Is everything okay?"

"Hm? What? Oh, it's nothing really. Are you finished?" the bridge builder showed her his grocery and nodded. They walked back toward his house. Sakura turned her head to the spot where she last saw Naruto before she followed her client.

'Tazuna-san," a fisherman called him out.

"Oh, Genji, what's up?" Tazuna greeted his fellow Wave citizen, but frowned when he saw the worried look plastered on his face. "Is there something wrong with the bridge? Is it Gatou?" he asked worriedly.

"It's not that," the man scratched his head. "There are 4 people asking for your house address. Three of them were in the same age like young lady over there," he pointed at Sakura. "They looked like ninjas, so I thought you should need to know."

"Ano…were they wearing this?" the punk haired genin showed him her hitae-ate.

"Hm?" the man tapped his chin. "Ah, yes, they did have those!"

Sakura smiled. "It's alright, they're our aid that we requested from our village back home. Thank you for the information," she bowed. Tazuna and the only female in team 7 returned to his house.

Sakura opened the door and went to the kitchen where she heard people were talking. She found the team sent by Konoha was being served lunch by Tsunami.

Her eyes were quickly drawn to two of the team, the adult and one of the teenagers. No, it wasn't because they were handsome because the other male member was definitely more handsome than them and might be on par with Sasuke. The thing that drawn her to the other two was their…caterpillar eyebrows. She took a step back in surprise. "The heck?"

"My, what a lovely day for youth today, I, the green beast from Konoha has arrived together with my youthful students," the adult exclaimed in lame pose when he noticed her enter.

"Gai-sensei!" the younger nin with the same lame haircut and spandex hugged his sensei.

"Lee!" The others were sweat dropping. The brown kunoichi was sighing, suggesting to Sakura that it was common occurrence.

"Can't Konoha send me a not-so-strange team?" Tazuna mumbled dejectedly. It was as if it wasn't enough to give him a team with an insane and murderous genin as a member, and now they gave him a team with 2 gays? Heaven, help him!''

"Ano…who're you?"

"Of course, my lady. How rude of us no to introduce ourselves first!" Gai's teeth was sparkling.

Lee reappeared in front of Sakura, kneeling with hearts on his eyes as he clasped her hands. "Ur…" Sakura wondered what she should do.

"My beautiful goddess, I'm Rock Lee, sent here to save yo—URK!" Lee's face was slammed to the ground, hands still clasping Sakura's by Gai. Sakura sweat dropped.

"Lee, don't be so rude! Your introduction is wrong. You lack the passion needed! This is how you should do it!" the man kneeled like a prince in the fairytale. "My princess, I, Maito Gai, has come to your rescue! Your youthful beauty—" an imaginary cold storm blew Sakura's hair as she stared at the two like they were insane.

'I think I prefer a murderous Naruto than these two,' she glanced at the other two and found them trying to hide their embarrassment at their teammate's and jounin's behaviour.

The other female dragged Sakura away from the two and let her sat down. "Er…sorry for them. Their minds aren't exactly working right," she apologized.

"Yes, I can see that," she said dryly as she stared at the 2 crying shinobis.

"…Right. My name is Tenten," she offered her hand.

"Haruno Sakura, nice to meet you," she shook her hand.

"My other teammate is Hyuuga Neji," Neji turned his head, scoffing. "Er…don't worry about him. He's just in his usual brooding mood," her black haired teammate glared, but she ignored it. "So, where are your teammates and jounin instructor?"

"Sasuke and Kakashi-sensei are training in the woods, while I don't know where Uzumaki is," she told her.

"Huh? You don't know where your teammate is?" she asked confusedly.

"Ur, we're not exactly close," behind her Tazuna snorted.

"Close? He told her that he would kill her," Neji's attention was caught.

"Kill her? That's just a joke, right? Neji also did it when we first met" Sakura bit her lips.

Tazuna shook his head. "No, it isn't. The boy won't hesitate to kill her, I tell you. He's practically a killer machine. You'll understand when you see him tonight."

"…Haa," Tenten nodded dumbly.

**Meanwhile in Gatou's headquarter**

Gatou smashed his glass angrily, wine dripping from the glass unto his expensive carpet but he took no notice. "Guards!" he shouted. Two guards came over. "Hire other ninjas! That fool Zabuza is useless!" the guards nodded and exited the dinner room hastily.

**Back to Tazuna's house**

"And they sent _you _for our aid?" Kakashi's eyebrow twitched in annoyance.

"My eternal rival, Kaka—"

"Yeah, yeah whatever," he waved him off completely. He switched his eyes to Gai's younger 'twin' incredulously. 'He had succeeded in corrupting this kid? Same haircut, same green spandex, same attitude. Gai, you're so foolish!' Kakashi wanted to scream. Behind him Sasuke scowled.

Tenten tapped Sakura, her brown eyes were focused intently on Sasuke. "Hey, is he Uzumaki?" she asked, thinking that he must be Naruto since he brood as much if not worse than Neji. 'He's cute,' she squealed inside her mind. If Sasuke knew what she was thinking about, he would absolutely kill her for thinking that he, the heir of Uchiha clan, was cute.

Sakura laughed out loud. "No, he isn't. He's my other teammate, Uchiha Sasuke. You might think that with his angst that he must be Uzumaki, but I'll tell you, you got the wrong guy. Uzumaki's hair is blonde and his eyes are blue, his appearance is completely different than Sasuke. The first time you look at Uzumaki, you won't think him dangerous but only as annoying person, but he's more dangerous than Sasuke. You better be careful around him, he has worse mood swing than even a pregnant woman. One time, he could be playful the next you could be dead," she warned.

"Surely, that isn't true," Sakura shook her head amusedly.

"Tell you what, just see him for yourself, but don't cry after he's finished with you," a flash of the afternoon event filled her mind. Naruto was smiling at the children. She shook her head. "Anyway, he would be back soon. He's usually here when the dinner starts."

Tenten and Sakura sweat dropped when they saw the 2 moody teenagers stared at each other's eyes. Kakashi was completely ignoring Gai as he read the new volume of Icha Icha Paradise, and Lee was trying to get his sensei's attention.

"Er, Neji, you better stop staring at him or people will think about you in the…uh…wrong way," Neji's brown haired teammate adviced as she could see the sparks flown from their eyes.

The Hyuuga branch member scowled as his gaze turned to his friend. "And what do you mean by that?"

"She's saying that people will think you're gay," Sakura piped in bluntly. Tenten nodded in agreement.

"Yes, that's what I meant," the death glares sent to her by both genins (because if she implied that Neji was gay, that meant she also implied that Sasuke was too) were ignored completely by the humming girl as she tried to see anything but their eyes.

Neji's eyes turned toward the front door.

The door was opened, revealing Naruto with his torn clothes. Naruto blinked when he saw a tear soaked Gai embracing the next green beast of Konoha.

"Ah, that inappropriate jounin!" he exclaimed.

Eyebrows were raised.

"What did you call Gai-sensei?" Gai's 'twin' shouted angrily as he dashed toward the blond. Fist clenching, he threw a punch, only to have Naruto caught his fist casually using his free hand, since his right hand was holding 4 fishes.

Tenten, Neji, and Gai eyed Nauto carefully. Even if Lee couldn't use ninjutsu or genjutsu at all, his taijutsu although far from perfect was better than many shinobis.

"Catch," he threw the fishes to the frantic Sakura who hoped to catch the fishes. Naruto's blue eyes stared at Lee's black eyes. "I said: inappropriate jounin. Get a problem with that?" he mocked. "If you don't believe me…" Naruto took a small scroll from his pouch using his free hand. He unrolled the scroll and bit his thumb, before smearing his blood on the scroll, all the while still holding Lee's punch. A poof later, an album was revealed. The blond opened the pages and found what he was looking for. He thrust the book close to Lee's wide eyes. Lee's jaw dropped. He stared at the album openmouthed, he was silent for once. Lee withdrew his fist and stared at his jounin sensei with tears brimming on his eyes. Betrayal was portrayed behind his eyes. "Gai-sensei, how could you do it?"

"Huh?" a confused Gai frowned. The others were wondering just what it was that made Lee who idolized Gai to the point of obsession looked so betrayed like that. They turned toward the smirking Naruto.

Sakura stared at Naruto's smirk. That was it! She decided that she was imagining things. There was no way Uzumaki Naruto, the boy wonder who could kill you in seconds without remorse was smiling!

"Naruto, may I see it?" Kakashi couldn't help but asking him politely, knowing wrong sentence could very well end his life. Beside he was curious and it was better to be on his good side.

Naruto shrugged amusedly, as he took out something from the album and threw it to his father's pupil who deftly caught it. It was a photo. The next second, Kakashi's eyes (though his sharingan eye was covered by his hitae-ate) were so wide that they were in danger of popping out of their sockets. His jaw would've dropped if not because of his mask still attached on his face. The next second Kakashi was chuckling and then laughing.

"What is it?" Tenten asked curiously.

Still chuckling, the silver haired jounin handed the photo to Gai's female pupil. Wordlessly, Neji, Sakura, and even Sasuke couldn't keep their curiosity and stared at the photo from behind her shoulder. Simultaneous snickers were directed to the still confused Gai, holding his crying student, who was pounding his chest. The genins laughed out loud, though Neji tried to shut his mouth from laughing since he was the ever 'noble' Hyuuga member, so he settled on amused smirk, while Sasuke whose ego was still as big as his head wouldn't want to be caught laughing out loud and settled on (odd) chuckle.

Tenten gave the photo to the curious Tsunami. A second later, she exploded. "Gai-san, if you dare to do that in front of my son, I'll kick you so hard that you grandchildren will feel it, although I felt sorry for Lee-san to have a father like you!" she screamed angrily, stomping her feet on the floor, not knowing that Lee was simply Gai's pupil and not his son like she thought, even if his face and almost everything else about him resembled Gai.

"HUH?" Gai was still confused.

Tazuna took the photo from his berserk daughter's hand. "…Oh. OH…" Tazuna grinned suggestively to the green spandex jounin. "I don't know that you work part timer as strip dancer, Gai-san."

"WHAT!" Kakashi's self exclaimed rival shouted incredulously. The others except the furious Tsunami laughed harder. Inari peeked curiously from the door.

"Inari, get back to your room!" the boy's mother shouted. Looking at his furious mother, Inari decided that a retreat was good.

Gai snatched the photo from Tazuna's hand. "What the hell? How did you get this photo? I thought I have burned all of them!"

"Ibiki still has a collection of those," Naruto said, not saying that he actually didn't get it from Ibiki, because it was him who gave the photos to Ibiki who paid generously for it. Then again, it was a truth, even if it wasn't a complete truth. How Gai implied it, wasn't his problem.

"B-But," the green beast of Konoha stuttered.

"How come I don't know any of it?" Kakashi wondered, feeling a little sad and disappointed that he didn't know about it before this.

"If I'm not wrong, you were still an anbu at the time, so it was no wonder if you arrived to Konoha after the news died out," Naruto told him, remembering about Kakashi's data.

"Damn! And no one tell me about it?" the jounin cursed as he eyed Gai trying to soothe Tsunami to no avail.

TBC…

He-heh, another omake! Hopefully you'll like it.

As you can see, Naruto isn't completely heartless. He is unstable…yes. Cruel…yes. Evil…well, not really. In his own way, Naruto made an impact to the people around him. Sakura started to train harder and took being kunoichi more seriously. Sasuke was reminded that revenge wasn't everything, though whether or not he becomes a traitor later is still a huge question mark that not even I at this point of time, could answer. Kakashi had to deal with more headaches and Gai was completely humiliated (he…3x), sandaime was defeated by simple blackmails and Ibiki was happier than ever. While Anko was still her usual cruel self, though her imagination went overdrive.

Next: Kakashi and Gai get their students to train and duel together. We will see more of Naruto's ability (that's the plan, who knows if I decide to change it later). Stay in tune, buddies!

Don't forget to leave me your reviews!


	13. Part Thirteen

Disclaimer: Sometimes I wonder why I should write this disclaimer in the first place. It isn't like no one knows that the stories on this site are made by fans not the respective owners.

Author's Note: Ugh, I hate exam. 2 more exams and I'll be free! Unfortunately I'll go back to my parents' house in my old town for weeks. No computer, no internet connection, nothing. For the ones who asked me to update sooner…can't! I'm an architecture student, and I'm already struggling to pass my lessons here. Give me a break, please. There is this one lesson that I'm a bit worried that I won't be able to pass…pray to God above (if there is actually a God) that I can get a C mark. Please not a D mark or worse E! My mother will kill me in spot!

About writing the next chapters for my fics in a book or something in my holiday…I can't, guys. All of my data are in my computer (and you know I have many fics and data to maintain, especially Soragakure with the whole squadrons of OC characters), but I'll try anyway, though usually I am not in the mood of writing in holiday, except if I do it with my computer in my hand.

And about longer chapter…I'm not exactly a fast writer… Actually I can stare at the screen for hours and only producing 1 or 2 pages. I have never planned anything on my fic and mostly just write everything out of the blue. I guess that's the reason I'm a bit stuck sometimes.

Part Thirteen

Naruto almost reached the front door when he felt a presence behind him. He turned around to meet Kakashi's eyes.

"What?"

"There will be duel training after breakfast and I expect you to join," the older ninja told him. Naruto only shrugged and exited the house. Kakashi sighed, thinking about his difficult student and how to handle him.

Naruto stepped on the river, without his shirt or jacket. He slowly walked to the center where he closed his eyes and relaxed his stance. He concentrated on the nature around him, as the wind caressed his face. There were children in the riverbank, open mouthed, wondering what he would show them today.

Slowly but surely the water around him rose and made a water shield that surrounded him. He did it for 5 minutes before he opened his eyes. The water shield dispersed but it didn't drop back to the river, instead it coiled around his body like a snake. The water danced around him for a moment before it was separated into many parts. This time instead of a big water snake, there were water threads around him.

Naruto touched one of the threads. The water stiffened and the end formed something like a needle. The change followed by the other threads. Naruto moved. His kata was graceful. He moved like a fluid, just like the fox inside him instructed for years. The water around him followed his movements. It danced around his body, facing invisible targets. He hasn't perfected this move that he started to learn 3 years ago yet, but he planned to.

Naruto jumped high to the sky. The water strings around him followed, separating themselves from the river. To the children below, he seemed to hover in the air for a moment before the water around him exploded into many smaller parts and hardened and showered the river with thousands of water spikes. The river splashed as it was assaulted. The children laughed when the rippling water splashed them.

Naruto landed on the river surface with eyes closed. When he opened his eyes, he could see red liquid colored the river. Twenty dead fishes floated to the surface.

The children cheered loudly. Naruto grinned as he took the fishes and threw them to the children. "Thanks, Naruto-niisan," the blond nodded. He walked to the bank and took his dry shirt and jacket. "Eh? You are finished?" one of them asked, looking disappointed.

"Yes. I have to meet with others in the woods. Perhaps later, kids. See you!" he dashed.

"Wow, he's so cool!"

"Yeah, and he's only some years older than us!"

"I wish I am as strong as he," a 7 years old boy said wistfully.

His friends laughed. "Impossible. We don't have talents like he does," his older sister by one year told him.

"Who cares about that? For now, party time!" he showed them one of the fishes. The others agreed with him.

**In the woods**

"Kakashi-sensei, Uzumaki isn't here yet," Sakura told him. The jounin scratched his head.

"Huh? What do you mean he isn't here? He's there," Tenten pointed to the blonde boy in the tree confusedly. Were they blind or something?

"That's only a clone," the silver haired jounin informed her. The real Naruto won't just stay silent, observing us," Kakashi thought of how Naruto used to make traps around them or insulted the team members.

Neji activated his byakugan and frowned. "Impossible. He has chakra paths on his body. There is no way a clone can have that," he argued.

"That's because it's not a normal clone. It's kage bunshin, shadow clone. Unlike normal bunshin, it isn't an illusion but corporeal. It has the same power like the real caster and has chakra pathways," Sakura said. "And it needs much chakra to maintain," she muttered under he breath.

"WOW, Naruto-san is so great!" Lee shouted in awe to his teacher. Beside him, Gai nodded in agreement. It seemed that those two have reconciled, or perhaps Lee was just trying to forget Gai's indecent incident. There was also a possibility that he buried his memory about what Naruto said yesterday. All in all Naruto didn't care about their weird relationship.

Neji looked at one direction. "What is it, Neji?" his brown haired teammate asked.

"There is another Naruto running toward us, fast," he said without turning around. No more than 5 seconds later, Naruto jumped to the ground 2 meters in front of Neji.

"Well, since our last member has arrived, let's start. Sakura, you fight Tenten. Sasuke, you with Neji. And Naruto with Lee," Lee jumped and shouted in joy.

"Naruto-kun, let's do our best!" he gave him a thumbs up. Naruto only raised his eyebrow.

"Alright, anything goes. If your opponent gets knocked out, surrender, then you win. No killing," at this the former ANBU eyed Naruto who gave him an amused smirk. "Gai," he nodded to Gai.

Gai stepped forward, "The arena is surrounded by trees with red papers. No running outside the arena is allowed. We will observe your fight from afar. First fight will be the girls. Good luck," he flashed them his white teeth. Sakura entered the arena nervously. She darted a look toward the calm Tenten. The girls stood across each other, waiting for the signal. "Begin!" both girls took their weapons from the pouch. Sakura charged with her kunai, while Tenten stayed on her spot.

It was very easy that the match was a slaughter. Sakura didn't have many techniques except for simple bunshin, great chakra control or throwing kunai. The problem was Tenten was more experienced and she was a weapon master, plus Sakura's chakra control wasn't exactly what you could say big. The pink haired girl looked crestfallen and nearly in tears as she tended her wounds, obviously she was very disappointed to be defeated so easily by another kunoichi. She knew that she wouldn't be able to defeat Tenten without luck on her part, but she didn't know that her ninja techniques were this bad.

Tenten sighed at the appearance of the girl who was on the verge of crying. She knew what she was thinking about, afterall being a teammate of Neji The Gloomy Hyuuga, was tough. She has never beaten him and felt useless the first time around especially with his sharp and loose tongue her confidence was being assaulted. She walked and sat beside her. She started to talk.

Neji and Sasuke stepped forward, neither boy paid attention to their female teammate. Kakashi and Gai were wondering how the battle between 2 prominent clans (one of the clans, the Uchiha, was a bit indisposed, but oh well) would end. They knew that under normal circumstance it would be Neji who would win the match, but you couldn't say that because ninja with a trick on his sleeve could turn up the odds.

Naruto yawned, not really interested with what was going on. Nearby Lee was cheering for both of them. The 2 combatants appraised each other carefully.

"Begin!"

Sasuke threw kunais toward Neji who still stood on his spot. The Hyuuga activated his byakugan and performed kaiten to deflect them. Sasuke's eyes narrowed seeing Neji's kind of defense. The whirlwind dissipated revealing Neji.

'Hm…he's depending too much on his bloodline…and don't he feel dizzy after he rotated too much like that?' Naruto watched the fight from the corner of his eyes, as he leaned on a tree.

"KATON, GOUKAKYUU NO JUTSU!" Sasuke breathed thousand of flame balls and directed them toward Neji, who jumped around to dodge them. Sasuke dashed behind Neji and threw his shurikens. Neji turned his body to see the upcoming weapons. He deflected most of them, but 2 shurikens managed to cut his sleeve and pierced his arm. Sasuke smirked, knowing that he was the first to draw blood from his opponent.

Neji narrowed his eyes. He took the jyuuken stance. "You're within the range of my divination. Prepare yourselves." Neji appeared before Sasuke's widened eyes. He had closed 32 tenketsus when Sasuke opened his eyes to reveal sharingan. The Hyuuga branch member flipped backward in shock.

Sasuke coughed blood. Some parts of his body where Neji stroke felt burning. He was lucky that Neji was shocked to see his sharingan and retreated before he closed all of his tenketsus.

"So you can activate your sharingan," Neji stated to the now shocked Uchiha.

He had activated his bloodline limit? Sasuke's right hand touched his eyes and put it down again. If he had sharingan with him, he could turn up the odds even with his body wounded and his ability to use chakra was severely limited. He had known that some of his body parts were now completely devoid of chakra. The chakra control training Kakashi had given his team made him sure to know that fact.

To activate his bloodline in this duel match, this match wasn't a waste.

Sakura almost jumped to cheer her former crush when she saw the red eyes, when she remembered that she had given up on him. Now it was kind of reflex to do that. Lee cheered on both genins, but they didn't seem to hear it. Kakashi and Gai watched the match in interest, especially Kakashi who promised himself to teach his student how to use those sharingan eyes of his. Naruto himself took out a small notebook in which he wrote his assessment of the battle before him. He focused his observation on the Hyuuga taijutsu style and the byakugan, knowing that he could solely study sharingan in other time since Sasuke was on his team.

Sasuke took out wires from his pouch, ignoring his aching body. He knew he couldn't use the wires to Naruto's level in which the wires looked like they had their own will, but his own technique was still dangerous to his opponent.

Naruto tapped his cheek with his pen before he wrote on the notebook on his hand.

Neji used his eyes to see the almost invincible strings. The Uchiha knew what he did using the strings, that much he admitted, but being a teammate of a weapon specialist gave him experienced on how to beat this technique. Reinforcing his hand with chakra, Neji cut the strings that were intended to bind his body.

"Give it up. You won't win. It's your fate to lose from me and my destiny to win this match," The Hyuuga boy said this in his usual emotionless tone.

'Hyuuga Neji is a stingy asshole who believed too much on fate. He probably had a bad experience to be another kind of cranky brooding guy (the other kind is Sasuke the brooding gloomy avenger). Then again, who cares? Certainly not me. Note to self: usually this kind of guy is easily riled if you push the right button. Try to find it! And give him a prank or two to make him loosen up his lame fate speaking. It is as lame as his fuzzy eyebrow-ed teammate's and his jounin instructor's youth speaking.' Naruto finished his writing and then glanced at Sasuke who seemed ready to throttle the Hyuuga with his bare hands. He flipped his notebook to the alphabet 'U' and searched for Sasuke's name.

'Uchiha Sasuke is a competitive bastard and don't like to be defeated. Wonder what he really thinks of me since he had fallen to my traps numerous times. Note to self: with his bloodline activated, try to find a way to make his eyes completely unable to copy my jutsus. There is no way I'll let him copy them. If he wanted to learn it, he had to do it the hard way. Which is by begging and pleading and of course a debt that I can use for anything. Not that I'll teach him. Beside his ego was probably bigger than his brain—if he had any in the first place, that he won't dare to ask me much less beg me from,' Naruto cackled insanely.

Behind him Sakura was crept out by his 'evil' laugh. She waved her hand frantically to erase Naruto's angelic smiling image. Bad thought! That was right! She was hallucinating!

Beside her, Tenten sweat dropped at her unexplainable act against invisible 'bugs'. The older girl wondered why all of the cute guys she found were insensitive jerk (Neji), brooding avenger (Sasuke), quiet bugs lover (Shino) (Tenten shivered at the bugs image) or insane (Naruto). Then again you couldn't call Lee and her sensei as cute guys, but they still were insane and mentally unbalanced.

The second match was ended quickly with Sasuke being knocked out by Neji, but only after Sasuke sent him an unexpected helluva of punch to his ribcage. The Hyuuga boy put a hand on his ribcage as he walked to a tree. That suicide move (because Sasuke chose not to avoid one of Neji's strikes in order to give him a blow) was unexpected. Sasuke knew that his chance to win was slim to none thought that he had to give the annoying bastard in front of him at least a punch that he wouldn't forget for long to give him a message that he too wasn't omnipotent, especially not because he thought that some lady fate favored him.

He hoped that at least he could make the match a draw. He didn't get his wish though, since Neji was still conscious although was winded by his accurate blow. As he blacked out, Sasuke cursed himself for not going after his balls instead of his ribcage. That way if he succeeded landing a blow there hopefully he would deter him from his irritating fate speaking. Because that meant that it was Neji's fate too to receive a blow to his manhood pride and perhaps lost his ability to reproduce.

Wouldn't it be nice to rid the world from more future Hyuuga brats?

Kakashi removed Sasuke from the arena. He dumped him under a tree. Gai was doing a victory dance, shouting at Kakashi about the burning passion his team's members had, to beat the silver haired jounin's students.

"Naruto, Lee, you two are next!"

Naruto tilted his head as he watched Lee made a joyous dance before the match. "Let's make it quick. I have something else better to do," he said arrogantly.

"Yosh, Naruto-san let's do our best!"

"Whatever," the blond sneered. Nearby Kakashi sweat dropped thinking about how much Naruto and Lee resembled him and Gai. The difference was that Naruto was truly annoyed while he merely ignored the green beast of Konoha.

"Begin!" just as he said that Lee dashed toward Naruto. The blond raised his eyebrow. He admitted that Lee was quick, but his fox partner (namely Kibi) was faster…and more vicious, though the fox couldn't use taijutsu for obvious reason, but definitely was still dangerous with its sharp fangs and claws. Now, should he fight Lee or play him around?

Naruto smirked when he reached his decision. He parried Lee's punches and after a minute of parrying at last he caught one of Lee's hand. Gai's pupil quickly changed his tactic and kicked toward Naruto's face. The blonde bent his knees and lowered his body. Lee twisted his kicking leg so it went down. With body still twisting, Naruto caught Lee's leg with his free hand. Lee had to twist his body when Naruto twisted his leg so to avoid broken bones. Naruto let go of his other hand from Lee's palm and used both of his hands to throw Lee to the nearest tree. Lee's feet landed on the tree trunk and he jumped to the ground, crouching on 4 legs. He had a happy smile plastered on his face.

"Wow, you're so great, Naruto-san!" he shouted loudly.

'…So naïve…" a malicious idea soon formed on his brain as he remembered what the data he gathered about Lee said. Strong in taijutsu, couldn't use genjutsu and ninjutsu because he couldn't use chakra, his apparent affection toward his teacher he saw as his role model, and other things. Naruto gave out a wicked grin that was noticed by a worried Kakashi. There was nothing good came out when Naruto grinned like that.

While he'd like to duel in taijutsu only with Lee, he had a better (read: more malicious) idea on his mind. He hoped that after he was done with him, Lee would change his annoying personality (and hopefully his green spandex, bowl cut hair, and fussy eyebrow too).

Naruto teleported out of Lee's front, effectively confusing the poor ninja. Since the arena was the wood circled by the red papers, he could easily find himself a place to hide from Lee to concoct his plan into reality. Afterall why didn't use the arena when it was big? No sense of wasting it. His bug henge-ed shadow clone was assigned to keep watch on him, so he would always know Gai's pupil's location.

Naruto took out a small scroll from his pack on his belt. He bit his thumb and smeared the blood on the scroll to summon the scroll's contents. The wound on his thumb was already healing. He glanced at the numerous flasks, tubes, and bottles there. All of them were his collection of poisons, potions, sprays, tablets, herbs, medicines, solutions and powders of various kinds. Most were made by himself, while the rest he bought via mail or he just plucked out of the forest.

Naruto took a small blue box and took out one of the brown colored tablet. He closed the box and put it back on the empty scroll. After he put the tablet on his pouch, Naruto did some handseals and there was a popping sound smoke covered the scroll. When the smoke dissipated, the scroll was tied back and there was no sign of those bottles anymore.

After crushing the tablet into powder, Naruto mixed it with a flask of fresh water. The tablet was actually a stimulant that could effectively affect a particular hormone. And from there the victim's brain would be affected indirectly. Since the result would heighten the victim's sense of fear, Naruto could just add a genjutsu in which Lee would project his own fear. It would be Lee himself who defeated himself.

Closing the flask carefully so its content wouldn't spill, Naruto created 6 shadow clones. He gave the flask to one of the clones. Naruto performed the Kirigakure no jutsu. The first time he created this jutsu 2 years ago, he didn't know that it wasn't a new jutsu, only after Zabuza said the name of the jutsu when he created the mist from the water around him did Naruto realized it.

They dashed toward Lee to incapacitate him. It was a quick work. First Naruto locked himself with a battle of taijutsu with Lee. It was admirable to see the boy still could respond his assault under such thick fog around them. Second, 5 of his clones attached themselves to Lee's hands, legs, and neck effectively stopped his movement. Third, the real Naruto pushed Lee to the ground. The clone that attached itself on Lee's neck jumped and sat on Lee's chest. It was then the last Naruto clone opened the cap of the flask with his thumb and poured its content on the waiting mouth of Lee. Lee struggled and tried to close his mouth, but the clone was ready and opened Lee's mouth with its fingers. Lee drank the rest of the drink.

The real Naruto put genjutsu by making handseals and put 2 fingers on Lee's forehead afterwards. After his job was done, he dismissed all clones. The blonde boy stood in front of Lee's body. The bowl haircut boy was moaning and even sobbing while he muttered his sensei's name. Naruto stopped his kirigakure no jutsu and the mist dissipated.

All eyes were pointed toward the sobbing Lee. His team members couldn't believe it. Lee was crying? That was something that was unexpected.

"…winner, Naruto," Kakashi muttered. The jounin headed toward Naruto sternly. "What did you do to him?"

"Nothing, just a simple genjutsu that affected his brain. You did say that we could use anything, didn't you?" Naruto smiled cheekily. "Don't worry he won't breakdown anymore in 10 minutes."

"What kind of false image you put on him?"

Naruto shrugged. "Who knows? The only one who knows about it is Lee himself. My genjutsu made his own brain displayed his worst fear," there was no use to tell him about the stimulant tablet. He'd like to keep the secret about it himself. "Since the training is over, I'll be on my own way. See you!" The rest of Konoha ninjas were circling Lee, wondering what they should do to the now incapacitated genin. Kakashi was hard pressed calming Gai from having nervous breakdown.

Naruto has taken 10 steps from his spot when Neji came at him, face frowning. "What was the drink you make Lee swallow?" to amateur, it would sound like neutral tone, but Naruto was no amateur and he quickly noted a sign of hostility on his voice.

Naruto smirked. "Wouldn't you like to now?" he raised an amused eyebrow. Inwardly Naruto reminded himself to put this byakugan ability to see through mist to his notebook later. "See you later!"

"If Lee isn't able to be a ninja after this…" he warned.

"You'll do what?" Naruto challenged. It seemed that he needed to reevaluate and change Neji's manners he had wrote on his book. The guy was unexpectedly loyal, if you could say that, to his teammate. "You'll close my tenketsu and torture me? Don't look so surprised like that, Hyuuga. It wasn't as if it was a secret," the fact was that there was a detailed restricted archive about Hyuuga taijutsu style and some of byakugan's ability, like seeing human's tenketsu. Naruto simply retrieved the data by transforming himself into the archive caretaker. He wanted to laugh at the lax of security placed on Hokage's tower. And they called themselves one of the 5 most powerful hidden villages. It was a wonder that Konoha still last to this day.

"It won't work on me, you know. I'm perfectly in control of my chakra. Infact you can say that my hm… ability is the counter of your jyuuken style. And about that drink, let's call it pest repellant, shall we? I bet that after this, your friend over there," he tilted his head toward Lee, "Will avoid me after this and won't reveal himself around me for a long time. If he doesn't, let's just say that there must be something wrong with the working system of his brain," Neji almost said something when he heard his teacher called his name.

"This isn't over yet!" Neji growled and turned around, gritting his teeth.

"You're welcome, Hyuuga. Anytime," Naruto grinned widely, as he watched the pupilless eyed boy's retreating back.

From the corner of his blue eyes, Naruto saw a short shadow behind a tree observing the matches earlier. It was Inari and right now he was gaping at the spot where Naruto had rendered Lee catatonic. The young boy looked at him in awe before he stared back at Lee in confused disbelief.

"Wow," he heard Inari muttered the word, staring at him as if he was to be his new hero.

Naruto smiled. Perhaps this kid could be saved afterall.

Inside him, Kyuubi was snorting at the thought of Naruto saving the kid. More like corrupting him, the fox muttered amusedly.

"Now, now," Naruto chastised his tenant. "I'm certainly not corrupting him. Call it my gentleman charm," he said innocently. "The kids are attracted to me like moth to flame!" Nevermind the fact that said animal would be burned when it touched the burning flame.

The fox barked out a laugh from behind his bar, obviously amused, knowing that his host was anything but innocent. And of course sandaime could give him proofs that he was no gentleman. Then again, gentlemen of old days fought between themselves using manipulation and brain instead of their brawn. Brawn was good and all, but it was always (read: mostly) the brain that decided the winner. And unfortunately for everyone who was Naruto's enemy, the blonde boy wasn't only backed by his brawn, but he also had the needed brain as well. Not a good combination to have in Naruto form, especially when said boy was such a mischievous troublemaker that generally always attracted chaos everywhere he went to.

Kyuubi sighed in relief, knowing that his trickster legacy was inherited by his host. Or was it perhaps merely enhancing the already devious mind the kid had on his birth? He didn't know the answer, but he didn't care. It was nice to see that his vessel, the son of yondaime who had sealed him inside the blond baby, wreaked havoc on the world. His reputation still needed to be upheld afterall.

**_Take that you goddamn asshole! Do you see that? Your son is mine! Hope you have fun watching your son and me over here! _**Kyuubi roared in satisfaction before he went back to plot his next course of action: thinking of the right ingredients to make a new potion for the next glorious prank. Target? Kyuubi tapped his paw on the floor, musing. Now that needed some more thoughts…

Whoever their next target would be, it was obvious that the result wouldn't be pretty for the victim.

But hey, why should a demon lord like him care? As long as the victim provide him amusement he had nothing to complain about.

TBC…

It is over! At last this chapter is finished! I'll have architecture classical history test tomorrow. Wish me luck!

Don't forget to review this fic. Next, it would be the battle on the bridge. You'll have to know that I'll effectively change a whole lot of the battle. More missing-nins, more Konoha-nins, and who knows what Naruto will do! The boy was a wild card. The result? Will Zabuza and Haku die? Who the heck are the missing-nins Gatou had hired? What is Team Gai's role on the battle? And how will Tazuna deal with the whole mess?

Stay in tune (in January I think)!


	14. Part Fourteen

Disclaimer: Naruto is so not mine. Any character you recognize from the anime or manga belongs to Kishimoto Masashi. The OC characters are mine though

Author's Note: Hey, guys, I actually write this in my hometown. My bro brought his laptop with him and planned to give this laptop to my dad. I didn't have any flash disk with me at the moment so I guess I'll have to borrow my bro's. No internet connection though, so I can't look up It sucks! I'll be able to write here now, but I can't send it to Oh well! You can't get everything. I think I'll bring some game disks later and then install them on this laptop so I can have fun too. There isn't much entertainment here. And I need enjoyment when I stay here or I'll go nuts!

Btw, my sis asked me to assist her translating English of some papers to our language. Well, more like she asked me to translate all of them while she stands behind me watching whether I do what she asked me to… The point is I will have to cut my time to write this to get it done. Sorry, guys.

Chapter Fourteen

Naruto tapped his foot impatiently, waiting for Inari to come with the Wave map the kid promised him just minutes ago. Inari has come to him an hour ago telling him that he'd like to help him with anything. So Naruto told him to give him information about Gatou. The kid told him everything he knew about the criminal lord from his dirty businesses in Wave to the location of his base here in Wave. The blond haired boy perked up when he heard it. He told Inari to bring him a map of Wave, so he could tell him the exact location.

There was loud sound of footsteps outside Naruto's room, followed by the foor being slammed open by none other than grinning Inari with a roll of map on his arm.

"Naruto-niisan, here's the map!" the boy yelled, shoving the map to Naruto's nose.

"No need to get that excited, brat," Naruto took the offered map and rolled it open. "So, where's the location?" Inari got behind Naruto and pointed to a spot in the map. It was a small island located between Wave and Water country. No wonder Gatou set up his base there, the island's location was strategic. There, he could control the movement of goods come and go from Wave to Water and vice versa. Not to mention, the Wave had to sail to reach Gatou's base if they eanted to rebel. Problem was, Gatou's men would notice them right away and they would have time to prepare.

An island…now that would be a problem. He didn't think there would be any fisherman brave enough to bring him there.

"How far is that island from here?"

Inari looked up, "50 kilometers I think. If you want to get there, you can sneak in one of Gatou's ships there. There are 2 trips from here to that island and vice versa everyday," Inari said as if he knew exactly what Naruto was thinking.

You know which are Gatou's ships?" Naruto asked. The kid nodded eagerly. "Alright, can you take me there tonight?"

"You will sneak in tonight?" Inari asked surprised.

"No, I just want to know the ship first. I'll probably do that tomorrow or 2 days after now. There is no use sneaking in if you get into the wrong ship."

"Oh, I don't think you'll get the wrong ship. It is easy to notice which ones are Gatou's," Inari muttered bitterly. "They're much bigger and grandeur."

"Don't worry when this is over, your people will own that kind of ships," Naruto assured him. Inari brightened and grinned happily.

"Come on! I'll show you!" the kid was already on the door and dashed outside.

Naruto patted his belly as he smiled victoriously. "So easy to please, isn't it?" Inside him, his tenant was shaking his head in amusement.

**In the Pier**

"You see that big ship over there?" Naruto nodded. He could tell exactly which one was Gatou's ship. It looked like a giant compared to the much smaller ships around it.

The two boys were hiding behind a wooden box 30 meters from the ship. There they could see Gatou's men activities. Naruto noted every man's face there. He looked down toward Inari when he heard him growl. Naruto arched an eyebrow when he followed Inari's gaze. He was glaring at a tall skinny brown haired man chatting with his comrades.

"You know him," it was a statement, not a question. Inari looked up startled, totally forgetting about Naruto's presence.

The boy simply nodded before he stayed silent for a moment. "He's Kaji, one of our people," the kid started. "He's known as a bully among us. I heard he joined Gatou a week ago."

'Ah, no wonder he felt so betrayed. Even if the man is a bully, he's still one of Wave citizens,' Naruto thought. Naruto narrowed his eyes at the sight of the man. 'A bully, Gatou's new man…perfect!' an evil smile reached his lips as an idea formed on his brain.

"Inari, go home, I still have something to do here," at the worried look plastered on the kid's face, Naruto continued, "Don't worry, I'm not doing anything remotely dangerous. I know my limit," Naruto grinned inwardly. He knew his limit, alright. He could easily kill every man in the harbour.

"But—"

"Go! I'll be alright. Oh, and don't tell the others about it," Naruto looked pointedly.

"But—"

"Go! You can tell them about it only if I don't come back until late midnight. Okay?" Inari was hesitant and bit his lips. The kid nodded reluctantly before he ran away from the pier. His small form was swallowed by the darkness of night.

Naruto continued to watch the man and his group for another half an hour before the man split up with the others. Naruto followed Kaji who headed toward the town. The Kyuubi's vessel hit his neck, making the man dropped to the ground unconscious. Naruto took the ankle of the unconscious man's leg and dragged him toward an abandoned wharf. He intentionally chose a bumpy road littered with rocks. No sense of making the man comfortable.

Naruto deposited the man roughly to the floor, throwing him to a pile of broken wooden boxes. The man shook his head painfully, he was awakened from the rough landing and the splinters of wood pierced his body. He looked around him in confusion, before his gazes landed on Naruto's form.

"Who the fuck are you? How dare yo—" Naruto reappeared in front of Kaji. His nose almost touched the man's whose eyes were so wide there was danger they would fall off their sockets. Naruto jabbed a finger roughly on his throat. Kaji choked but there was no sound coming out of his lips.

"Nice, isn't it? You won't be able to talk…or scream, whatever you prefer," Naruto smirked wickedly. Kaji's eyes widened with terror. "I believe an introduction is needed here…no? My name is Uzumaki Naruto, a genin…from the leaf," Naruto grimaced when he said that. Kaji's jaw dropped in horror. "Why? So you already know about us, afterall. Now it will be easier then."

The brown haired man's hand reached toward a sharp wood splinter on the floor. The man grabbed it and charged Naruto with it. Naruto simply stepped aside and tripped his foot. The man's face landed on the floor.

"Well, ouch!" Naruto said, not feeling even a bit compassion. The blond tied his hands with a string on his pouch. "Now, Inari told me you're being a bad boy, Kaji. Now, that's not nice…" Naruto stepped forward. His hand raised Kaji's chin so the man's black eyes met with his own blue eyes. "So, what's the punishment for such a bad boy like you?"

Kaji in a moment of bravery or stupidity, whichever you prefer, spat on Naruto's face and mouthed "Go to hell, you son of a bitch!" because his voice still disappeared. Needless to say, Naruto wasn't pleased. He touched his cheek where the liquid touched his face. His eyes narrowed harshly. Naruto tightened his grip on the man's chin and broke it. Kaji cried out in pain though no sound escaped his lips. Blood dripped from his mouth to Naruto's palm. "You're no fun. I think I'll make it fast for my own sanity." Kyuubi snorted inside his cage.

Naruto created a shadow clone and bit his thumb, He smeared the blood on his clone's forehead. The blood was made into a kanji writing of 'strength'. Two seconds after the blood was administered, it disappeared without trace.

"Do it," Naruto told his clone. The clone nodded and its hands reached the writhing Kaji's head.

Kaji was writhing on the floor when the next moment he felt someone touched his forehead and he felt like everything was on fire. He felt like his brain was fried and thousands of needless pierced it. He felt like his brain went mush.

When the clone took his hands off Naruto's prisoner's head, the man dropped to the floor unceremoniously. Saliva dripped from his mouth and eyes saw nothing. The clone's job was finished. It has absorbed the man's data about his way of talking, how he reacted if he faced something, etc. The jutsu it did wasn't absorbing the man's memory, but more like the man's personality. After a henge, the clone would be ready to infiltrate Gatou's base. Since the man was new, there was only small chance of being discovered by Gatou's man.

"Foolish human," Naruto summoned his pet fox, Kibi, the two-tailed fox. "Kibi, your meal. Don't leave any trace of his body!" with that Naruto left his clone and the happy fox with Gatou's man who would soon being devoured alive. "With voice box still sealed and hands tied, the man wouldn't be able to scream or do anything. Naruto wiped his cheek clean and went back to Tazuna's house.

**A few minutes earlier**

Kakashi frowned. Inari was acting…strange. The young boy appeared to be really nervous and his eyes always darted toward the front door as if he was waiting for someone to enter.

Sighing, the silver haired jounin's eyes reverted to Gai's prized pupil who was busily exclaiming his love toward a grimacing Sakura. The kid was gloom for an hour after the genjutsu Naruto administered on him stopped, but already back on his feet and being his usual energetic (and insensitive) genin again after that. Kakashi shouldn't feel worry about him, but the jounin could see there was an edge carefully hidden behind Lee's gaze. Like he was subjected to hell and torture and lived through it. It was the same glint every anbu had after their first assassination mission or after being captured and tortured for information and still lived to tell the tale.

Kakashi sighed again, Icha Icha Paradise laid forgotten on his hand. He didn't have the confidence of teaching his sensei's only son the meaning of teamwork or compassion. The boy was too…cruel and he already had his own mind set. A mind set that was built after being subjected to the hates directed toward him and the assassination attempts.

He couldn't blame the kid to be that cruel. The Konoha citizens had a hand on creating the monster lived inside Naruto's mind. It was a wonder that the boy hasn't snapped yet and kill everyone. It clearly gave him indication that Naruto had a strong will. But even a strong will wouldn't be able to handle the strain of being hated as a scapegoat. There was a limit for everything.

Kakashi could only hope that Naruto wouldn't betray Konoha like Jiraiya's ex-comrade, Orochimaru. If it happened, there would be no hope for Konoha to survive.

The Fourth Hokage's pupil turned to the door when it was opened by none other than Naruto. Kakashi noted that Inari looked relieved when he saw his student. The jounin looked at Naruto closely. He noticed there was a dark substance covered the nails of Naruto's right hand's fingers. It was…blood? Kakashi narrowed his eyes and glanced at Naruto's face. But said genin's gaze wasn't directed toward him but to the bouncing Lee behind him.

Kakashi prayed for Lee, hoping that the blond wouldn't slaughter him right here and then.

The other genins and Gai noticed Naruto's presence and stopped talking or doing anything. They stared at Naruto who stared at Lee who was talking to Sakura still hadn't noticed Naruto. The tension was so thick in the room that Tazuna gulped on his seat.

When Lee actually noticed Naruto's presence, his voice escaped him. Lee gulped. "Yo, Naruto-san! How're you doing?" the fuzzy eyebrowed genin tried to sound cheerful, but it came out more like a strangled cat's voice.

Naruto scoffed and ignored him as he headed to his designated room. Lee froze when Naruto passed him. Kakashi breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that there would be no Lee slaughter tonight. The others carefully avoid the blond.

The next morning when Sasuke has just awakened, he noticed that Naruto was already got up and left the room. His blanket was neatly placed on his empty futon. Sasuke was a bit worried when he found the exact situation with Lee's futon. He wondered if Naruto and Lee fought again. He tried to dismiss it, telling himself that it wasn't his business, but found out that he couldn't. With a sigh he woke Neji up.

The Hyuuga boy told him sleepily to search for Gai. If the jounin was already up like Lee that meant the weird genin was with him, practicing like usual. If not, well…Worried of his teammate Neji pushed himself to wake up and searched for his jounin-sensei. The two were relieved when they saw only sleeping Kakashi in the room with Gai was no where to find. That meant Lee wasn't fighting Naruto. After knowing that Neji went back to sleep while Sasuke took his weapons and headed to the woods to train. The dark haired boy was surprised however when he found a wide-awake Kakashi leaned on the front door.

"Let's go!" Sasuke followed the older nin, wondering what the jounin would teach him.

When Sasuke was busy training, Naruto was busy picking up herbs in the woods. He found out 2 days ago from the children he played with that this section of forest was filled with herbs and poisoned plants. Some of them weren't available in Konoha's forest, so Naruto decided to pick them up and if he could, plant some of them on his apartment. He would need them to make new medicine or poison.

His foxes surrounded him. Some helped him to pick up a certain kind of plant while others played around the herb field. Naruto frowned when he saw the foxes looked up and sniffed the air. Their ears stood up and they looked pointedly at one direction.

Focusing, he noticed a muffled signature of chakra nearby. Whoever this person was, he or she didn't want him to know his presence. He admitted that this person was good at hiding. If there was no fox around him at the moment he wouldn't be able to feel him up without concentrating.

A feminine boy came out from the woods, walking toward the herbs field. Naruto raised an eyebrow. What was a boy like him doing with a woman's clothing? Did he like to cross-dressing?

One of the foxes, a medium sized red fox growled. It recognized this person's scent. It yipped to Naruto telling him that the person before them was the swordsman's subordinate who posed as a Mist hunter-nin days ago.

Now Naruto's eyebrow reached his hair line. He looked at the older boy's clothing and then thinking about Zabuza. He didn't know that Zabuza was into that kind of…thing. Did the person in front of him cross dressing for Zabuza? The young man seemed so dedicated to Zabuza. Perhaps Zabuza wasn't gay but his subordinate trying to catch his attention by wearing woman's clothing?

Kyuubi rolled his eyes. Trust Naruto to think about that kind of thing when an enemy appeared before him.

"Hello," the guy smiled. "What're you doing?"

Naruto looked at him for a moment before he decided to see what he was up to. He shooed the foxes away. If the boy in front of him thought it was strange, he didn't say anything. "Picking some plants. You?"

"Me too."

Silence. The older boy fidgeted on his spot at the uncomfortable silence.

"Say, are you a ninja?" he asked, trying to make a conversation. "I mean you have…er… you look so fit compared to others around here."

"Not every one who has a fit body is a ninja," Naruto told him. 'Man, what a lame reason he was trying to say. I bet that he wanted to say that I have a hitae-ate when he noticed I don't have any with me.'

"Er…yes," he spluttered. "But you're a ninja, right?" Naruto nodded. "I thought that a ninja always wear their forehead protector," he trailed off, but obviously there was a question hanging there.

"I don't want to wear it, so I left it in my house. Why do you ask?"

"Nothing. I'm just curious," the guy smiled, trying to charm him. He looked a bit troubled that Naruto didn't react to him. Obviously the guy thought that he would fall to his (cough) woman's charm. "Why did you become a ninja? Do you want to protect your precious person?" he asked while he uprooted a plant. A herb that was used to make a strength drink, Naruto noted. It must be for Zabuza who was wounded in their fight days ago.

Naruto snorted. "I don't have any precious person."

"What about your parents? Aren't they your precious persons?" the guy sounded troubled at the answer.

"My parents? They died when I was just born."

"Oh, I'm sorry," he looked sympathetic. "My parents died too when I was just a kid. I was found by my precious person months later," he seemed to go down in his memory lane. "I'd like to think that I became stronger by having my precious person."

Naruto grunted. "Yeah, right. And the pigs fly. By caring someone you become weaker, not stronger. You become too concerned to that person, making you can't focus on other things. But I digress, that's your problem."

"…" Zabuza's subordinate didn't know what to say as he stared at Naruto. "Er…what's your name? My name is Haku?

"No surname?"

Haku shook his head. "No, I don't remember it anymore."

"Uzumaki Naruto, your soon-to-be-executioner," Haku's eyes widened, but before he could move, a string wrapped on his neck tightly. "Don't move! Or I'll separate your head from your body," Haku stiffened. "So, how's Zabuza? Has he fixed and finish his sword?" Haku stayed silent. "Don't want to give information to your enemy, huh?" The blonde genin tightened his string hold causing Haku's neck to bleed.

"Go to hell!"

"You know? Last night the guy who said the same thing to me died eaten by my lovely pet, alive. So if you don't want to die horribly, tell me! It isn't like you'll loose something in the process. I'll even let you go. I'm in a pretty good mood today. Don't ruin it!"

"I'll never betray Zabuza-san. Kill me! I won't tell you!"

"Your loyalty is admirable. Too bad you chose him as your master, Haku-san," Naruto closed his eyes and caught a poisoned senbon heading to him a mere centimeters from his face. Green liquid coated the senbon. Naruto sniffed the small weapon and laughed. "Paralyzing poison? Even when your live is at risk, you only use a paralyzing poison. You wound me, Haku-san," Naruto's opponent watched wide eyed as Naruto licked the poison in the senbon.

"What the hell?" The Kyuubi vessel grinned.

Haku sweated. He was in danger. The genin was strong, immune to most poison, and to make it worse he was bloodthirsty and crazy. A swift move from the genin and he'd die. To think that a mere genin defeated him so easily. He underestimated him. Then again he was the guy who defeated Zabuza-san single-handedly without breaking a sweat.

Concentrating on his kekkei genkai, Haku formed an ice to freeze the string from the water around him. He hit the frozen string with his senbon effectively destroying it.

Naruto raised his eyebrow. He had a bloodline limit?

Naruto watched curiously as Haku formed an ice mirror and stepped inside. After his form disappeared from the mirror, it dissolved into water and dropped to the soil.

"Well, well, well, now this makes this hunt more interesting," Naruto grinned. The hunt would be more enjoyable when the prey could fight back and had nice tricks on its sleeve.

TBC…

Okay, I lied when I said that this chapter would be the battle scene. Actually I planned to do that, but my hand moved on its own.

But that doesn't mean you can forget to give me review! Review!

News, I actually send this via dial up connection. My bro's laptop has a modem. So I can get internet via phone line


	15. Part Fifteen

Disclaimer: N.A.R.U.T.O is not mine. Unfortunately. Damnit!

Author's Note: This chapter will be the first part of the battle scene for Wave arc. There are 2 parts. Hopefully you'll like it. It is very different from the canon though. Haku's and Zabuza's fate? Why don't you curious reader read it yourself in the next chapter? Right now, I haven't decided their fates yet.

About my studies…The professor haven't given the marks publicly yet, so I don't know whether my marks are good or not, but at least my studio (my most important lesson) don't get D or because E, because if I did my schedule will tell me I'm having SPA2 instead of SPA3 (Studio Perancangan Arsitektur) or perhaps it is Architecture Designing Studio? Uh…it just seems plain wrong on my ears. And I have good news everyone, it seems that my schedule for this term won't be as crammed as my last term, hopefully there won't be as many assignments as last term too. I speculate that I'll be able to update faster than before. That's just a speculation though, don't get your hopes too high.

**Bold** and _Italic_ means Kyuubi's talking (if it doesn't come out right, it isn't my fault)

/…/ Naruto communicating with Kyuubi (note that if I use any symbol before / like ? or ! the symbol in story page will disappear. Again, not my fault)

**Omake:**

Naruto's clone who was currently disguised itself as Kaji, a Wave citizen who betrayed his country by joining Gatou, slipped into the kitchen quietly. The clone took out a bottle of yellowish liquid and poured it into a bowl of chicken soup that would be served for Gatou later in the dinner. 'Kaji' stirred the soup for a moment before the man exited the room.

The next day, he heard that the chef was executed under Gatou's order. Apparently the crime lord was having bad digestion after consuming the soup and had to stay on the toilet for 5 hours straight. Needless to say, Gatou wasn't pleased. The man still had trouble walking and was as pale as ghost right now, a result of having to empty his stomach.

Naruto's clone removed a notebook from its clothes and opened it, before crossing 'Hakuji Jirou' name from the list. Hakuji Jirou was the name of the chef executed. The clone didn't like it when the gay man tried to hit on it and thus born its plan to frame him. Not to mention screwing with Gatou was really fun!

The clone licked the corner of its lips and stared at the next two names below Hakuji Jirou. Now, what should it do with them? They were more annoying than the chef, and the clone would like to get rid of them. Should it stole Gatou's money and put the money on those people' room? Or perhaps it would need to henge itself to their appearances and pranked Gatou?

Hmm…decision, decision…

The End 

Pretty short omake, but at least there is an omake, right?

Chapter Fifteen 

When the morning came, Naruto headed to the harbour before the others even awakened. According to the schedule, Gatou's ship would arrive on the Wave main island to drop drugs and prostitute women and would go back 2 hours later to re-supply his base with food and other daily needs.

The blond haired genin put a henge on himself and waited for 'Kaji' to meet him. 10 minutes after the ship docked on the pier, his clone walked toward him. The two headed to a secluded area where the clone reverted back to Naruto's form. Without saying anything, the clone stepped into Naruto. Naruto closed his eyes as he received the memory of the past 2 days from his clone. Now he knew everything his clone experienced.

A smile reached his lips when he noticed from his clone's memory that Gatou had hired 5 more missing-nins: 1 A-rank Stone-nin, and 4 B-rank nins, 2 of them from the Mist while the rest were from Grass village. It seemed that the criminal lord no longer trusted Zabuza to dispose the Leaf-nins. Oh well, more preys for him to hunt. It would be fun. Naruto grinned when he recalled a memory of his clone wreaking havoc inside Gatou's rank by its pranks.

Deciding to start his plan, Naruto henge-ed into Kaji's form and checked his arsenal. Happy that he didn't forget anything Naruto walked to the ship only to be reminded that he still had 2 hours until the ship departed to Gatou's base. Sighing, he reverted back to his form and sat on one of the wooden boxes laid around on the floor in the abandoned warehouse. Rolling open a jutsu scroll he brought with him and telling Kyuubi to tell him when 2 hours was over, Naruto waited. It was true that he could wait for long, even days, but that didn't mean that he liked it. He preferred to do things quicker. Patience wasn't exactly his forte, but he could be patient if the need arose. And now was the time to wait. Naruto grumbled under his breath.

Two hours later Naruto was safely tucked inside the ship. As a newbie, he was forced to clean the deck and do other things designated for low rank sailor. Biting his lips and clenching his knuckles to avoid killing the sailors here and then Naruto finished his job quietly.

**_Think of it as a new experience, kid. Take a deep breath! If you kill them now your plan will be ruined._** Kyuubi reminded his host.

/I know, I know. No need to tell me, furball/ the boy growled angrily.

"Hey, newbie, clean my cabin. It's dirty!" a sailor shouted. Behind his, his friends laughed.

Naruto's jaw clench. /Just a person, pretty please/ he pleaded to his tenant.

**_Suit yourself!_** The fox yawned. **_But don't come back later regretting it._**

Naruto grinned inwardly. /I won't/

30 minutes later there was a splashing sound, like something heavy was plunged into the ocean. The sound was muffled by the engine's sound, so no one but a grinning 'Kaji' knew about the accident.

10 minutes later Naruto snapped the neck of another sailor's neck that offended him and threw the body to the ocean after he made sure no one saw him carrying the body.

**_With this rate, before we arrive to the human's island, you'll kill all of them already,_** the demon rolled his red eyes.

/And your point is/

**_Nevermind_**, Kyuubi waved his paw.

The ship sailed for another hour before Naruto could see the outline of the island which was used by Gatou. According to his clone's memory there was a harbour on the west side of the island. There were usually more than 2 cargo ships docked there. The sentry in the island itself wasn't really that great. Gatou relied heavily on his navy for the security. Not even his base which was located in the woods had many securities. His people were usually sorting through the goods instead of patrolling. It showed Naruto that Gatou believed that no one would be able to enter the island.

What a laugh! Even a genin at least with a competent skill of henge jutsu could sneak in his place. Which was exactly his rank. Naruto blinked when the ship he was in passed another's Gatou's ship. It was another ship and it headed toward Wave's direction. And the ship was a cargo ship not a smaller and more agile patrolling ship. Strange…there wasn't supposed to be another trip to Wave on this hour. Naruto shrugged and went back watching the closing island.

When it docked, all of the crews were busy bringing down the crates in the cargo ship. Not wanting to be suspected, Naruto lifted a crate on his shoulder and followed the others. They placed the crates on wagons and went back to the ship to pick up other crates. When all of the boxes were put into the wagons, the horses were led into the woods, where the base was built.

Naruto was giddy inside, wanting to fight them all. He wouldn't give the other leaf-nins the pleasure of fighting them. Their blood was his and his alone.

**_Are you getting territorial now?_** The fox demon asked amusedly.

/Shut up/

**_He-heh. So, do you think you can handle your first kills? _**The demon asked him from behind the bars.

/Of course I am! Who do you think I am? A wimp? And I have killed people before/ the genin scowled.

**_Yes, but not by your own hands. The worst you have ever done to people was playing with their mentality and perhaps torture them…though sometimes I think some of them prefer to be killed rather than being tortured…_** the fox added the last sentence, remembering a certain prisoner under Ibiki's watch that was dying because of Naruto's new…collection.

/Just wait and see. You won't be disappointed by my performance. That much I can assure you/

Very well. I'll wait and see and if I deemed your performance worthy I'll teach you another jutsu, but if you fail you have to spend your time to redecorate my cage. It's getting pretty boring lately. 

/You're on/ Naruto took the bet, eager to learn a new jutsu. Naruto slipped out unnoticed by others when the workers moved the crates to the storeroom. He threw a glass tube to the workers and quickly closed the room with a smirk. There was a loud bang coming from the storeroom.

"WHAT THE HELL?" there were coughs and shouts from inside before it went silent after 5 minutes.

"Exploding sleeping potion, always come in handy," he locked the room. They would sleep for 2 days straight. "Never forget to bring this thing," he added, before he left to find other groups. Naruto didn't think they were worth his time to kill them, but he needed to take care of them first if he didn't want others to interfere with his battle against the missing-nins. He sure as hell wanted his first kills to be some good shinobis, not mere thugs without power whatsoever. It had something to do with his ego.

Twenty minutes later, Gatou's base was cleaned of all of its inhabitants with the exception of Gatou's personal guard and the crime lord himself. Naruto wondered where the hell the missing-nins were. He had dispatched his clones, but didn't find them inside the base. He frowned and doubled the number of his clones to expand the area of searching including the rest of the island. He still had Gatou to take care of.

Gatou and his for bodyguards were walking down the corridor. The crime lord was thinking of a new idea for the next cri—erm—business investment he could do. He heard a muffled sound from behind him and whipped his head. His 4 guards looked at him confusedly before they too turned around, but they didn't see anything. Gatou frowned and resumed his walking, his guards followed him like a puppy.

"Has my lunch been prepared?" he asked them.

"Er, no sir. You remember that you've just executed the chef, right?" one of his guards, the shortest one with black hair, told him.

"Of course I am, you fool! I won't forget the face of people dared to hurt me! What I want to know, why there is no replacement of the chef yet?" Gatou shouted angrily. His guard backed away.

"I have heard that one of the your pirates is a good cook. If you want I can ask him right away to serve you, Gatou-sama," another guard, this time a tall blond, tried to pacify his anger.

The short man nodded. "Fine. Send him to cook my lunch," the guard hurriedly searched for the replacement. He wouldn't be able to reach the harbour though, as one of Naruto's clone outside the base caught him.

Gatou walked to his 'throne' room, a spacious office full with expensive items and shelves full of his winning trophies against his enemies and rivals. There were a skull of another ringleader he had killed 20 or so years ago, and his latest addition was a pair of arms he obtained from a fisherman in the wave who dared to defy him openly. But the item he found to be the most beautiful was his chair. It was a big comfy chair decorated with various gems. The chair was his throne, where he sat watching his crime emopre expanded.

And there was someone dared to sit on it

"HOW DARE YOU SIT ON MY THRONE!" he bellowed and walked toward the chair to see that the person who sat on his 'throne' was infact a blonde boy not even 15 years old wearing a cocky smirk.

"Your throne?" Naruto chuckled amusedly and rubbed the armchair to make him angrier. It worked and the man was as red as a boiled crab.

"Guards, seize him! I want him alive for interrogation!" two of his three guard ran to capture him while the last one, a brown haired man with bandanna covering his forehead, stood by Gatou's side to make sure nothing happened to his hirer.

One second the guards were charging him with their katanas, the next they were sprawled on the floor writhing, their swords dropped to the floor and their arms were broken and twisted. Gatou took a step back before he dashed to a nearby shelf and pushed a hidden button on it. The alarm was blaring loudly.

Gatou smiled maliciously. "You might be able to win against them, child, but you won't be able to fight my armies," he shouted. Naruto only looked at him boredly, one hand resting on the armchair supported his head. There were loud footsteps indicating people were running toward the room and Gatou's grin became wider. The door was slammed open and people entered the office. "Catch him!" he ordered without looking at his army.

Silent.

Gatou frowned. "I said, catch him!" he pointed his finger at Naruto. but they still didn't make any move. The Kyuubi's container chuckled.

"G-Gatou-sama," his guard stammered.

"Why don't you take a look behind you?" Gatou turned around and took a step back when he realized that it wasn't his army at all, but rather the blonde kid's clones. There were ten of them, each wearing the same smirk plastered on the original's face. The alarm continued blaring, but none of his lackeys coming. "If you're wondering, your lapdogs are currently taking a nap."

"Attack!" he ordered his remaining guard.

"W-what?" he stammered. "But there are ten of them while I'm alone."

"I'm not ordering you to attack them, just the obnoxious kid on my chair! The rest are just clones, an illusion, you fool! They won't be able to harm you!"

Naruto chuckled. "Clones? Yeah, they are. But illusion? Of course not. Does an illusion able to open the door? They're as real as they can be and perfectly able to inflict harm on you," one of his clones destroyed a coffee table nearby just to prove his point. Gatou and his guard swallowed.

"W-what do you want?" they were trembling now. Naruto smirked and there was a glint on his eyes. He clasped his hands and put his elbows on the table. He opened his mouth.

**With Kakashi, and co.**

Sakura sighed as she sat down on the bridge floor, watching the workers built the bridge bit by bit. Just 5 minutes ago another group of worker consisted of 4 people said that they wanted to quit. Tazuna knew not to refuse their withdrawal, but that didn't mean he liked it. Beside her, Tenten was polishing her kunais, humming along the way. Lee was practicing on the bridge under Gai's supervision. The sight of them training calming the minds of the workers. They felt more protected when they saw the taijutsu performance. Sasuke was talking with Kakashi quietly about God-Knows-What and Neji was meditating far from others.

The peace was broken somehow by a loud sound of engine coming directly to the bridge. A big ship sailed toward them. One of the workers recognized the ship and ran away, all the way shouting about Gatou eventually attacked them. The others were panicked and followed their friend's lead.

"Cowards," Sakura muttered, before she stood up. She took her hitae-ate from her hair and tied it tightly around her forehead. Tenten was smiling, eager to fight and played with her weapons as she stood beside the other female. Sasuke and Kakashi stopped talking and focused their attention on the ship. Lee stopped his training and jumped in joy and Gai was doing one of his weird poses. Neji opened his eyes and walked toward the others.

Seven people jumped to the bridge from the ship below. The ship still sailed through the bridge's structures. Two of them they recognized as Zabuza and the masked 'hunter-nin', while the others were new faces. The crossed hitae-ate they wore around their bodies gave an indication that all of them were missing-nins. One from Stone, two from Mist and another two from Grass, if they excluded Zabuza and his subordinate.

"Hm…Yama Dotsu, A-rank missing nin from Stone. Have the body of steel and strength to destroy a boulder with one hit. I don't know about the others," Kakashi told Gai. "There are seven of them…and seven of us. Gai, take care the Stone-nin! I'll take care Zabuza. The others, pick your opponent! Sakura, don't fight, guard Tazuna incase there is sneak attack. Gai or I will take care the another one," Sakura grudgingly complied. She knew that she was the weakest of the team, but why she was left alone to watch the battle while the others were fighting?

Sasuke immediately went to fight Zabuza's subordinate. Tenten chose to fight the only female nin. Lee was charging a slim young man with a mocking smile plastered on his lips, while Neji chose to fight against a ninja with his hitae-ate covered his eyes. The only one left was a fat man from the Mist. The fat man charged at Sakura and Tazuna only to be intercepted by Gai.

"It's unhonorable to attack unarmed lady!" The green beast exclaimed, earning a death glare from the pink haired genin. Not that he noticed, of course.

"Where is your blonde student, Kakashi? I owed him a retribution," Zabuza stood proudly. His huge sword was planted on the ground. Kakashi noticed that it looked different than a week ago. For once, it was…shinier, more dangerous looking and there was a blue aura surrounded it, creating an ominous atmosphere around it.

"Unfortunately he isn't here right now, probably training somewhere in the woods," Kakashi smiled cheerfully though he was eyeing the sword warily.

"Hm…it doesn't matter. As soon as I kill you, I'll fight him again and this time I'll defeat him."

"That if you succeed to kill me, of course. Unfortunately I have no intention to let you win," Kakashi pulled up his hitae-ate covering his left eye to reveal the sharingan eye.

0-0 0-0 0-0

"My name is Tenten. I'm a weapon specialist and I'll be your opponent," Tenten smeared her blood on a scroll and took out a pair of sickles connected by an iron chain.

"You shouldn't tell your enemy any information about you, girl. It can mean your end," her shoulder length brown haired opponent told her, as she took smaller and thinner senbons than what Haku used from her pouch.

0-0 0-0 0-0

"I'm Lee and I will fight you with my youthful fire!" the bowl cut haired boy clenched his fist.

His opponent shuddered and rubbed his arms. That lame talking, that weird hairstyle, that ugly green suit and those…caterpillar eyebrows of his…it gave him the wiggins. "Whatever, kid."

0-0 0-0 0-0

"It's our fate to fight and it's your destiny to be defeated by me, Hyuuga Neji of the Hyuuga clan," Neji exclaimed.

The black haired man scratched his head with his bandaged hand. 'Man…This kid has some unsolved issues.'

"Why don't we see the result ourselves, brat. I have just come from a fortune teller and she said that it was my lucky day."

"Then she is a fraud!" Neji replied before he went to attack him.

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Gai was fighting 2 ninjas at the same time, but he was having some difficulties. The hits he sent to the fat man's stomach was bounced, yes, bounced, by his fat stomach that served as if it was a jelly or better yet trampoline. On the other hand, the Stone-nin's body hardened and Gai felt like he was punching metal instead of flesh. The only thing that gave him advantage was that they were both slow and he was speedy. Unfortunately he had to dodge any punch Yama sent to him, because it could break his bones with just one hits. No matter that he had trained to endure any punch sent to him, this was still difficult to handle. He shuddered when he remembered a time when he, in his youthful days, talked excitedly to a blonde haired woman with big boobs only to have her punched him in the face and sent him straight to hospital for 2 months with broken jaw.

'No matter, for I the Green Beast of Konoha will prevail against my opponents and come out stronger than ever!' he cheered himself inwardly, as he sent chakra to his legs and arms.

In another city Tsunade sneezed loudly, causing the dices that was supposed to make her win on the game rolled and she lost her winning. Tsunade cursed her luck.

Meanwhile in Tazuna's house, 2 samurais were slamming the door open, drawing shriek from the surprised Tsunami. A clone of Naruto that was posted to oversee Inari's family's safety observed the event, wanting to know how Inari would react. It would take the matter to its hands if things went downhill.

In the bridge, Neji's fight wasn't going well. His opponent was a bug user from Grass, which meant that he was a long ranged attacker while Neji's attacks were mostly short ranged. Not to mention that his bugs could suck chakra from people and his Kaiten was slowly overwhelmed by the numbers of insects swarming.

'No, it's not my fate to loose here!' Neji performed another Kaiten.

Sakura was feeling…useless as she watched the battles unfolded before her eyes. She gripped her kunai harder and bit her bottom lip. She did the only thing she could do right now, which was protecting Tazuna…and cheering the others.

"KICK THEIR ASSES TO THE MOON! GRABBED HER FUCKING HAIR, TENTEN! PUNCHED HIM ON HIS FACE, SASUKE! NEJI-SAN, DON'T LET THE …uh…BUGMAN DEFEATS YOU! KAKASHI-SENSEI, THROW HIM TO THE OCEAN, SO SHARK WILL EAT HIS FUCKING BODY! GAI-SAN PUNCHS THE LIVING DAYLIGHT FROM THE FATTY GUY AND THE HARDENED COCKROACH! LEE-SAN KILL THAT FEMININE ASSHOLE!" inner Sakura reared its head. With the exception of Gai and Lee who went ecstatic, the fat nin whose face went purple, and the stone-nin who looked indignant of being called a cockroach, the others were sweat dropping at her behaviour.

"SAKURA-SAN, FOR YOUR SUPPORT, I WILL SEND MY FLAMMING LOVE MESSAGE BY DEFEATING HIM FOR YOU!" Lee was in heaven.

"Uh…No thanks," Sakura muttered, but he didn't hear her.

'Is this kid ever being hit on his head repeatedly when he was a child?' the former Mist-nin blinked.

Zabuza coughed. "You have…an interesting student there, Kakashi," the Leaf jounin had to thank his mask for covering his flushing cheeks.

"Er, thanks," he was thankful that Lee wasn't his student. It was…embarrassing, to say the least.

Zabuza swung his sword sending a wave of chakra toward him. Kakashi quickly dodged out of its way.

Sakura shrieked as she brought down Tazuna toward the ground forcefully making the old man kissed the ground painfully to avoid the wave of chakra passed through her spot. When she opened her eyes, she was stunned to see a flock of her hair fell into the bridge floor. Her eyes saw red. "YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE, WATCH OUT WHERE YOU AIM YOUR ATTACK, YOU BASTARD!" she yelled completely forgetting that it was one of Zabuza's job to kill Tazuna and his guards. "DO YOU KNOW HOW LONG I SPENT MY TIME TO TAKE CARE OF MY HAIR, YOU DUMBASS!" she gave him the finger. "KAKASHI-SENSEI LET ME HAVE A GO AT HIS BODY WHEN YOU'RE FINISHED WITH HIM! I'LL CUT HIS DIC—"

"Owe, my mouth," Tazuna moaned painfully, having his face slammed into the hard bridge floor.

"…Can you make her shut up?" Zabuza asked. His ears were red from the obscenities and foul words coming out from her lips.

"Er, not really, sorry." Boy, she really had an interesting vocabulary there. 'This girl has the most fluctuating mood swing I've ever seen,' Kakashi thought, his mind comparing the love stricken girl, a fear struck and guilty stricken kunoichi, and now a girl with the foulest mouth he had the…pleasure to know. He pitied her future husband, imagining how moody she would be if pregnant.

"WHAT THE FUC—I mean, why did you kick me, Lee? You're opponent is there not here, you foolish teammate of mine" Neji coughed, his cheek was rosy red, embarrassed for being caught of guard and almost swearing, something which wasn't a noble Hyuuga such as he supposed to do. He glared sternly at his teammate who crouched in a stance, ready to attack him in a moment, for a moment Neji forgot about the bugman, only to be reminded by an angry buzz of swarming bugs around him. He was preparing to forget about his comrade's misdemeanor and concentrated back on fighting these abominations, when Lee struck. Shocked, Neji parried and deflected his punch and jumped away from him. "What the hell are you doing?" forget everything about swearing! Neji grumbled, ready to give a lesson to his sensei's look-alike.

Was he an enemy using henge?

Nah, there was no sane people who dared to use henge no jutsu to transform into an ugly green spandex user with caterpillars as eyebrows.

"With the support of Sakura, the beautiful goddess of my life, I will defeat you with my passionate fire! Come! I will not let you destroy the dreams of the Wave citizens for the good of the next sparkling generations. "

And Neji said, "…Huh?" before he had to dodge another bug attack. By Gods, why did the fate have to torment him so by giving him a crazy teammate and creating vile disgusting bugs of all things?

"Like to see my handywork, Hyuuga nin?" the feminine former Mist-nin who was supposed to be Lee's opponent grinned. He sat on the low bridge wall, playing with his hair.

A realization struck Neji as he glanced back and forth at Lee and the man. "Genjutsu user," he stated.

"Bingo! That kid was so easy to manipulate," he giggled. "Just a simple genjutsu and BAM, I got myself a guard," the man watched happily as Neji was busily dodging both Lee's and his opponent's attack.

'THAT'S IT! After this madness is over I'll beat the crap out of Lee and teach him how to avoid fallen into genjutsu into his thick idiot skull, no matter what methods I'll have to do to drill it into his brain! This isn't justified!' Neji sidestepped to avoid Lee throwing himself at him (AN: not that kind of 'throwing', you perverts!) caught one of his arm and kicked him on the butt sending him flying toward the swarm of bugs. Sparring with Lee countless of times had made him get the gist of his comrade's fighting style. He could hear Lee's painful scream and winced. "Oh well, serves him right," he shrugged. Beside Lee wouldn't die just from being bitten by a 'couple' of bugs…would he?

Neji's logic told him that since Lee wasn't capable of using chakra (although he still did have chakra inside his body) he would have better chance fighting the bugman than he did. A small voice of his heart told him that it was just an excuse to get away from the vile bugs though. Neji shook his head and glared at the genjutsu user. "For the atrocious crime you have committed against me I, Hyuuga Neji, will defeat you."

The former mist-nin was wondering whether all Konoha children were born mentally defect.

"Hm…aren't you such a cutie? You're much better looking than your friend over there," the man tapped his lips playfully and batted his eyelashes.

OH.MY.GOD. The man was a freaking gay! (AN: personally I have nothing against gay, but this is for the purpose of this story) Neji's mind screamed.

Neji contemplated the fighting going on. The Uchiha boy would be more suitable to fight the bug user than him or Lee because the clan was famous as one of the clans who specialized mostly on fire technique. He could burn the bugs and annihilated them more effectively with his fire jutsu. As for genjutsu user, Neji had to fight this…gay (he shuddered) himself because although he was more suitable to fight against Sasuke's opponent who somehow had a bloodline to create ice mirrors dome, he didn't really trust Tenten to fight him, because he didn't know whether she (because Lee fighting the genjutsu user equal to disastrous event) would be able to fight the genjutsu cast by this missing-nin. Although she was able to deflect simple genjutsu, this man in front of him was a genjustsu specialist and he didn't want to take a chance. Neji didn't fancy being a dartboard if she went nuts like Lee. And sharp weapons were more lethal than Lee's punches and kicks (provided that he didn't crack his ribs, of course).

Aw, man. That meant he had to fight this gay while Lee fought Sasuke's opponent. With his speed, it would be easy for Lee to avoid the weapons and hopefully planted a good punch or two to crack the mirror.

The problem was…how could he get Sasuke out of the ice mirrors dome?

"Lee!" Neji called the now conscious ninja. "Change of plan! You get Uchiha out of the dome and fight his opponent! Tell him to fight the bugman!"

Lee saluted and grinned before having to duck to avoid the bugs. He should've brought bugs repellant. Lee thought mournfully watching his body full of bites from the tiny (but veracious) creatures.

**With Naruto**

Naruto was currently muttering obscenities as he dragged a soaked beaten Gatou on the ocean. He had tied the man's down and running on the wavy salt water, not caring if the man was drinking too much salty water or how painful it was to have his wounds came in contact with the sea water. The blonde boy ignored his soaked clothes or his red burning eyes, from facing wave after wave of salt water.

He should've told his clones to leave some of Gatou's men conscious! Now he had no means to operate the ship! Sure, he could have waken up one of the prisoner, but he wouldn't take a chance to have the ship with him on it sunk because the man was so beaten down he barely able to think straight.

And he should've thought that the ship he had seen when he arrived at the island carried the very people he wanted to fight! Thankfully the missing-nins used the cargo ship, not a small and agile patrol ship. That meant he would have time (with a bit of luck) to fight them.

Naruto growled in annoyance as his face was splashed by the salty water. Again. /I hate ocean! Why can't it calm down and let me walk on it easily/

Don't complain, brat! It's your own fault! Kyuubi teased. 

/Aw, but do I have to run for what? Another 10 kilometers/ he sulked.

_**Tough. Just get on with your life and stop complaining! Remember if you fail to meet my expectation, you'll have to redecorate my room!**I _Naruto winced. He hated that task. Kyuubi was quite bitchy about his demands for the decoration. With that warning on mind, he sent more chakra to his legs and started running faster causing water to splash harder behind him. Poor old Gatou was getting the brunt of it.

At least he got something from his arrival to the island. Naruto grinned.

**(Flashback)**

"I have a deal to make with you," the blond smirked at the quivering Gatou. A nasty glint flashed on his eyes.

"Oh? W-what is that?" Gatou tried to be brave, but his quivering voice betrayed him.

"Leave Wave alone forever. And transfer half of your money to me," Naruto grinned, he said as if talking about weather.

"WHAT?" the man choked.

_**Why are you collecting more money? I thought that your bank account is already enough for you? Your father's clan is quite rich and you inherited it.**_

/Hey, after being glared and hated for so long, I think it's my cue to get everything I want. Imagine with all of that money I'll be able to buy anything I want. Call me spoiled if you want/ Naruto inwardly stuck his tongue childishly. /What will I give in exchange to have a tropical island for me to spend my entire life on/ Naruto sighed dreamily.

Kyuubi snorted. **_Yeah right, brat. As if you will use the rest of your pitiful life in peace. You're a trouble magnet, a troublemaker, and you absolutely love chaos! _**_Like me_, the fox added mentally. Not wanting to get the kid's ego bigger by admitting it. It was already big enough as it was. No need to add fuel to flame.

"Hey, I'm being generous here. If I want I can make it all of it, instead of just half of it. I'm still letting you have money to recreate your empire."

The short man was silent for so long before he slowly nodded. "Alright. It's a fair deal. There are papers inside my cupboard that I can use to make the legal form," Naruto smiled victoriously.

Gatou walked toward Naruto to sign the paper Naruto had made. The man opened his jacket to get a pen only to have him withdraw a black colored gun and shot Naruto right on his forehead with it. Naruto's head dropped to the table with a loud thunk, blood dripped from the hole on his forehead. His clones poofed out of existence.

Should I end this chapter?

Naw…

The crime lord laughed evilly. "Bwa ha ha ha ha! This is what you get for playing with fire, kid! No one dare to disregard me!"

"Man…you're suck!" a voice called up behind him. Gatou was startled and turned around, only to see his guard was grinning like a maniac.

"How dare yo—" there was a loud bang and smoke covered his guard to reveal… Naruto! He whirled his head in disbelief toward the dead Naruto on his table only to have it poofed out from existence.

"That's just my clone, you idiot! I have replaced your guard ever since you walked through the corridor," Gatou took a step back toward his table, looking fearfully at Naruto. "So, you try to cheat off of me, huh?"

"I, I'm sorry! I don't mean to! T-This is just a j-joke. Y-yeah. Just a joke from my part!" Gatou wet his pants. He looked down to search why his legs felt warm and found himself pissed. When he looked up, a punch was planted on his face, destroying his sunglasses and taking two of his teeth.

"Our deal's off. This time I will rob you of all your money. But now…I think a punishment is fitting," he grinned threateningly.

Naruto spent 10 minutes to beat him up until his face was so deformed that not even if Gatou had families they would recognize him. He had made him signed off the new contract and asked him where the missing-nins he hired were. Only to find that they had departed an hour ago. Naruto cursed and tied Gatou, bringing the man with him as he crossed the wavy ocean, since he didn't have the knowledge needed to operate the ship by himself.

And thus Naruto had to run on the water carrying Gatou with him facing the freaking waves in record breaking speed.

**(End Flashback)**

Naruto squinted his eyes to see the outline of the Wave main island. He grinned. "Here comes Uzumaki Naruto!" he shouted and took off dragging Gatou with him, ignoring the sharks that tried to get close to them after they smelled Gatou;s blood in the water.

Kyuubi was yawning. He was laying on the floor, one ha—er paw supporting his head while he observed his other paw, watching how shiny his claws were. He yawned again, eager to see the action that would unfold soon.

Man…this is just plain boring! Kyuubi thought, wondering when Naruto would arrive at the main island. 

TBC…

A reason why I choose wind as Zabuza's sword's ability…his sword reminded me of Sagara Sanosuke's zanbatou from Rurouni Kenshin anime. It was a sword used to behead horses and I thought that it was fun to see Zabuza used wind to behead…someone.

Hopefully you find the battle scene good and funny too. I don't have the urge to write an entirely serious fight this time and thus I added some humors.

This time I write about the others too (usually I only concentrate on Naruto). Do you like it?

My longest chapter for this story to date! Unfortunately I don't think I'll be able to maintain it. Expect the next chapter to be shorter!

This fic is unbeta-ed. You'll notice that there is notification on any of my edited chapter.

Please leave your review after you read!

Hey, an author needs to be appreciated, you know.

By the way guys, did you notice that there are so many NarutoSasuke fics in appearing? I did. Usually it is one of my likeable pairings for Naruto but with all of these fics, I'm starting to be reluctant to read any NarutoSasuke anymore. There is also the rise of numbers of NarutoHinata fics too. And also NarutoSakura fics after Training for the Job story (good story, by the way) came out. I think I have to donate some fics which there will be no pairing for Naruto at all. He heh, though it is mostly because I'm too lazy to write romance fic.

There should be more fics with no fluffy romance that seem to appear endlessly in Oh well, that's just my opinion anyway.

Again, don't forget to leave your reviews!

Thanks for reading!

Btw, From now on my profile will be updated continuously. So if you want to see my stories' progress, you can see it my profile. Just for you to know!

See you again, guys!


	16. Part Sixteen

Author's Note: Hey, guys. This is a new chapter for you. Someone pointed a grave mistake I made on last chapter! In a paragraph I said that Naruto hasn't killed by his own hands before, and yet in one of the scenes it was mentioned that he snapped one of the sailors' neck. My mistake! I'll redo it soon, and change it into throwing him to the ocean unconscious or something. I'm sorry! I'm surprised that there is only one person who noticed this mistake, or perhaps there are others too, but too lazy to give any kind of review.

I'm sorry for the long wait, but I'm confused as to how I would write the fighting scene, and thus I needed time. Not to mention I have to think whether Haku and Zabuza would die or stay alive. Lots of fighting scene here! Hopefully you'll like it! Not much humor in this chapter.

Chapter Sixteen

Lee easily passed through the mirrors and entered the mirror dome. Haku let him in because if the weird boy wanted to give him advantage by being another victim of his, he wouldn't complain. Afterall the dome was meant to trap people inside, not outside, and attacked them from all direction usinf the mirrors.

Lee moved with incredible speed dodging the senbons sent to his way. He fought beside Sasuke.

"You fool, why did you enter this dome instead of attacking it from outside?" the survivor of Uchiha clam snapped.

"Neji want me to tell you to fight the bugman, while I dealt with your current opponent. Your fire jutsu will be an advantage against a bug user."

"And how do you think I can get the hell out of this damn place?" Sasuke asked, annoyed.

"By this," the taijustu specialist unstrapped one of his leg weights and threw it toward a mirror. Haku tried to deflect it, but apparently he didn't use much power to defend against the attack (and a senbon isn't exactly a good weapon against big inanimate things), and the heavy weight knocked the weapon away from his palm and slammed into the ice mirror, shattering it into thousands of shards. "NOW! I'll cover you!" Lee took out an iron brass knuckle on his hands to deflect the weapons away from his already running comrade. If he didn't need to deflect the senbons, he wouldn't use it and instead preferred to dodge and attacked unarmed.

Using this opportunity while Lee protected him, Sasuke escaped from the dome, mind still wondering how in the hell a mere weight like that could destroy something that he wasn't able to even melt using his katon jutsu. Those things were fucking ice for goddamn sake! Ice was supposed to melt under fire!

Perhaps because the weight wasn't made of chakra, his ego supplied his mind. Sasuke nodded at the assessment, feeling satisfied.

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"I can see the outline of the island from here," Naruto shouted outwardly to Kyuubi.

**_About damn time! And speak inside your mind!_** The fox told him.

"Whatever," the blond mumbled dragging the unconscious man with him.

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"Kirigakure no jutsu!" Zabuza shouted.

"WHAT THE FUCK!" many ninjas shouted when thick mist covered the bridge.

"Zabuza, you fuck up loser, I CAN'T SEE A DAMN THING HERE!" and not all of them were from Leaf.

"Your problem," was the only answer from the ex Mist-nin. The stone-nin gritted his teeth.

Situation caused by the mist for these ninjas:

Neji wasn't affected by the mist because of his byakugan, but it didn't really give him an advantage, since his opponent was a former Mist ninja.

Sasuke, Sakura, and Tenten couldn't see a damn thing inside the mist. The situation hindered both Tenten and Sasuke.

Lee wasn't really affected by the mist (AN: hey, he could fight when he's unconscious, which meant he closed his eyes, so I assume he could fight even if he couldn't see a damn thing). The same happened to his sensei.

Kakashi was considering summoning his dogs to be his 'eyes'…or perhaps his 'nose' and ordered them to attack everyone, but that idea was shot off when he remembered that there were other Leaf ninjas with him. Wouldn't want them to be bitten by his dogs. They would report it to Hokage and he would get a wage cut. Problem was he needed money to buy the latest edition of Icha Icha Paradise Special Gold Edition.

The Mist missing-nins weren't affected by the mist, since they were trained to fight under this condition.

The poison mistress was having difficulties.

The bug user used his bug in the way Kakashi wanted to do with his dogs.

The former stone-nin was cursing through his mouth, as he couldn't see a damn thing.

"Wow, it's cloudy over here," there was a loud crash when something was thrown to the bridge floor.

"Uzumaki? Is that you?" Sakura asked when she recognized the voice.

"Ping-pong. Uzumaki Naruto has arrived. By the way, Zabuza, nice sword. It is shinier too. What did you bribe its creator with to finish it?" the blond asked the man before he observed his surrounding. He rubbed his hands excitedly when he noticed the missing-nins.

Neji snapped his head toward the blonde Leaf genin when he said it. Did that mean he could see too in the mist? He noticed a lump below Naruto. "Uzumaki," he said, not calling him Naruto because his own teammates called him that. "What is that below your feet?"

"Oh this? Just their boss. I make a rendezvous stop at his base. You'd be surprised how easy it was to subdue those people," then he spoke to the missing-nins. "Hello guys, I have your boss over here. Honestly, I don't get it why you people just beat him yourself and take his wealth, because that is what I did," Naruto kicked Gatou's body who later moaned.

'What did he mean by that was what he did?' Kakashi asked himself with dread.

"Then there is no reason I stay here anymore," the genjutsu user turned before he was pounced by a fox whose weight was half a ton. The fox bit his neck and tore it with his sharp teeth. The feminine man's scream rang throughout the bridge.

"What the fuck is that?" the other Mist-nin shouted. He couldn't see the actual form of the fox, only the silhouette of the two tailed fox.

"Oh it seems that Kibi wants to _play_ with you too," he chuckled. "I guess it's my turn then. PARTY TIME!" Naruto didn't activate his eye ability to see through the mist to make the battle a bit more challenging, only relying on his other senses.

Neji was stunned when he saw what was currently…eating the genjutsu user's corpse. He felt sick. A two tailed…fox? How did the blond get a fox summon? He went toward his sensei to help him as his opponent was killed already. The rock-nin would be the perfect prey for him. Even if he could harden his outer body, he couldn't do the same with his inner organs. And that was an advantage he wanted to exploit.

Sasuke was furious. He was fighting _and_ would win too, if not for the damn fucking mist. He was roasting the bugs with his katon jutsus when the next second he couldn't see anything. Problem was the bugs could find him in the mist, while he couldn't. He cursed for the tenth time today. The very first thing when he came back to Konoha was to go to the library and found a jutsu to counter this damned kirigakure no jutsu.

He looked at the spot where he could sfeel the chakra flowed from the…creature, whatever it was. There was a pang on his heart to know that Naruto was involved with such strong creature and not him. The dark haired kid shook his head and concentrated on his opponent.

Tenten was having difficulties. Even if both her and her opponent unable to see, the poison mistress had an advantage from her. She was afraid to hit her friends if she shot her weapons blindly, but her opponent wasn't.

"Hm…you should increase the potency of your poison by 7 times if you want to affect me even a bit, woman," she could hear Uzumaki said, as if he was hit by the poison.

"That is enough to kill a cow!" Was it her or did she hear the frustration out of her mouth?

"Well to bad for you I'm not a cow," Tenten who was used handling weapons recognized the sound of shuriken being thrown. There was a gasp coming out of the Grass-nin. "It's no use struggling. The liquid that coated my weapons that cut your arm will deteriorate the nerves around your wound. You'll loose the use of your arm pretty soon. When you don't feel anything on your arm, it means that the poison starts to work. Unfortunate really, that this poison won't give any pain to the victim as the pain nerves are severed too," she screamed.

"You," she panted. "Lie about (pant) the pain, boy," she growled before she threw a handful of poisoned senbons blindly. It hit him, but there was the poofing sound, making her assume that the boy was using kawarimi. The truth was that Naruto use shadow clone technique, but the woman couldn't see it under the mist.

"I didn't. There were 2 poisons that I used on you. Actually the other is more like a chemical substance. You see it reacts when it meets with blood or more specifically the iron on your blood. Do you feel like your other arm burned?" Naruto chuckled. "If you're truly a poison mistress then why don't you try to beat my personal poisons? You have 10 minutes before your arms become completely unusable. Have fun!" The blond left her and sniffed the air.

He heard the angry buzz of insects 10 meters from his place. Taking out a scroll, he summoned a spray bottle. Activating his eyes to read the writing on the bottle to make sure that it was indeed the bottle he looked for, Naruto grumbled when he got the wrong bottle. And it was fortunate for him to make sure because the bottle he was currently holding would have the counter effect from the bottle he was looking for. He didn't want to face a swarm of ferocious bugs, even though he had his foxfire. He opened his summon scroll once again and this time he got the right one.

He shook the bottle for a moment and almost spraying its content to the spot where the bugs were when he got a better idea. He leapt to where the bug user was, throwing a kind of smoke bomb on him and sprayed the content of the first bottle to the bugs swarm.

"Have fun with your bugs," Naruto shouted to the coughing bug user, jumping away from the now hungry insects. The bugs' minds were screwed by the gas, disabling them from recognizing friends from foes. The smoke bomb was actually something that would attract the bugs' hungry minds. There was a horrible scream when the bug user was practically eaten alive by his own pets. Not only they sucked their master's chakra, they also sucked his blood and devoured his flesh. Not a pretty sight. Thankfully there was mist covered the bridge, so the less enthusiastic ninjas wouldn't faint. They were still shivering when they heard the unearthly scream coming out from the Grass-nin. When he felt that the man was dead, Naruto used the second bottle, and the bugs dropped to the ground like flies.

Naruto finished off the now disabled kunoichi by tearing through her throat. He licked his bloody hands, enjoying his first kills. It wasn't hard as many ninjas described it. He didn't feel any remorse at all, though it could be contributed to the demon inside him. Using a fuuton jutsu he just learned from the fox, he created a gust wind to blow out the fog. He counted there were only 2 more missing-nins aside from Zabuza and Haku. The ex Rock-nin was almost beaten down by the Hyuuga boy who appeared to get some blows on his own, judging from his bruised arms and face. Gai was fighting the other nin helped by Tenten while his favorite pupil was fighting against Haku. Sasuke looked pissed off from having his opponent was taken down by Naruto quite easily, but looked unnerved at the pile of flesh in front of him.

"Need something?" Naruto asked him.

Sasuke scowled. "Nothing."

"Suit yourself," Naruto turned his attention to Zabuza who was swinging his completed sword and licked his lips in anticipation. Kibi was on his side, purring lazily. The two tailed fox looked at the former Rock and Mist missing-nin longingly and glanced at its master. Naruto smiled, "You can have them," it dashed toward them before he even finished talking. He heard the shouts and gasps of surprise from both sides who were currently attacking each other.

There was a clang sound when Naruto's chakra enhanced kunai met Zabuza's Kubikiri Houcho (sp?). Both ninjas were smiling.

"Naruto, go back! He's my opponent," Kakashi told him.

"No. I AM his opponent. Isn't it, Zabuza?" the boy asked him.

The man smiled. "Yes, it is. We have unfinished business, Kakashi. This time I will defeat you, boy."

"Dream on, sucker!" Naruto deflected his sword and threw the kunai to his head. Zabuza moved his sword to intercept the weapon.

"Not using your wires again, boy?"

"Nah, I want to fight sword against sword."

"You have no sword with you," he pointed bluntly.

"Who said I have no sword?" he took a small red scroll hanging on his belt and showed it to the ex Mist-nin. Biting his thumb, because the blood on his hand wasn't his, Naruto smeared the blood on the opened scroll and summoned his sword.

It was a katana. The blade length was 70 centimeters and the handle was around 20. In the hilt, a roaring fox was carved. Nine tails encircled the handle. The blade itself was shining, glimmering under the sun. The metal was bluish.

"It seems that you have your own special sword. Are you a kenjutsu master?"

"Hardly. Even if I have a sword with me, doesn't mean I'm a swordsman. I prefer to be… prepared for anything."

"Can you recommend its creator then? It was a fine blade."

"You're currently seeing him," Zabuza raise his non-existent eyebrow in surprise.

"You created your own sword?" he couldn't stop the question from blurting out of his mouth.

"Half of it. I provide the fire."

"Quite admirable. Does it have any special power like mine?"

"Unfortunately no," Naruto grinned. Scorching blue fire surrounded the sword. "But it is able to handle my fire without problem."

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Kakashi ran his chidori through the B-rank missing-nin's chest, earning a growl from the two tailed fox. He watched it warily, muscles tensed, thinking that it would attack him, but it didn't. The fat man dropped to the bridge floor, dead before his body landed on it. Sasuke watched wide-eyed on the bluish crackling lightning on his hand. He had to know that technique! Too bad he didn't activate his sharingan eyes. He noticed the fox went to Naruto and jealousy once again reared its head.

Neji has disabled the other ninja with his 64 hands technique. He breathed a sigh of relief when his opponent actually collapsed this time. It was the second time he used the same technique on the man, but the man still could retaliate albeit slower and weaker after the first time, much to his surprise. He paid his shock with his now broken ribs. Tenten moved to his side and tried to help him with his limited knowledge of healing jutsu.

Neji was surprised, however, that his jounin sensei didn't 'cheer' him up like usual. He noticed that the man with the bowl haircut was looking at something. Following his gaze, Neji couldn't help but gasp when he noticed the burning sword on Naruto's grip. The chakra channeled on the blade was enormous. It danced around it as if it was alive. It was mostly blue, but there was a trace of red chakra…Impossible! Neji rubbed his eyes. There was no red colored chakra! He passed it off as being tired.

Looking at his female teammate, he found that she was gazing the burning katana in awe. He wasn't surprised. A weapon specialist like her would be interested to know a sword like the one in Naruto's hand.

"Tenten, go help Lee!" he said to her.

The weapon specialist opened her mouth but closed it again, before she nodded and left him.

0-0 0-0 0-0

Inside him Kyuubi warned Naruto that the man in front of him was a real swordsman unlike him and that he would have a disadvantage by fighting him with sword.

"Don't you trust me? I won't lose. I know my limit and it will be a good experience for me," the fox demon relented and let him did it.

"Whom're you talking to, boy?" Zabuza wondered if he was mentally ill, talking to himself like that.

"Only a certain furball inside me," the blonde boy replied, confusing him. "It doesn't matter. The only thing important is our match!"

"Agreed," with that Zabuza sent him a wind blade which he dodged by jumping. He twisted his body on the air and swung his katana upon Zabuza who was already in front of him. Zabuza parried it with his own sword. Naruto could see he was sweating from the heat emitted by the blue fire. To be on close distance with his fire wasn't something people like to do especially for a ninja who was used to low temperature in Water Country like him. If his red fire was hot, then his blue one was scorching.

The missing-nin's eyes widened when he saw Naruto inhaled the air around him and blew out long blue fire from his mouth. He barely dodged the fire from burning his face. Zabuza jumped backwards and ran when the still fire-breathing Naruto directed his flame toward his form. When the fire was gone, Zabuza was 15 meters from Naruto.

"Nice reflex," the Kyuubi's vessel grinned, enjoying the battle already. He noticed Kibi was watching his duel from the corner of his eyes.

The masked ninja attacked Naruto without saying anything. Naruto parried it and kicked him on the shin. Zabuza flipped backwards only to see a wave of blue flames heading toward him. He quickly slashed his sword vertically and created a wave of wind to counter attack it. There was a loud explosion on the bridge, part of the half finished bridge was damaged. A couple of rocks plunged to the water below.

The two went back to fight each other, not caring of others as they enjoyed their duel. The blonde blocked another incoming slash, but was surprised when Zabuza went down and swoop down his leg. Naruto fell to the ground, but managed to maintain his balance. When he looked up, he saw Zabuza's sword came down. Reinforcing his fingers, he caught the tip of the blade between his left middle and forefinger. Naruto sliced the air as Zabuza jumped to avoid it, hands still clutching his sword. His weight was supported by his sword which was currently in Naruto's hold. Knowing this, Naruto threw the sword along with him to the air, before sending arrows of red fire toward the man in the air. Zabuza clutched the sword on his teeth and made handseals.

"Suiton: Suiryuudan no jutsu!" a water dragon rose from the calm sea below the bridge and doused off the rays of arrows. Water rained down to the bridge as the Zabuza's jutsu clashed with Naruto's. Both were wearing smirk on their faces.

"Not bad," Naruto commented.

"You too, brat," Zabuza replied. Both took a stance and ready to battle once again.

0-0 0-0 0-0

Haku was having difficulties fighting 2 genins both inside and outside. He had to make sure that Lee didn't come close to his mirrors less he would destroyed them, while he had to fend off the rays of weapons from the kunoichi outside in the same time. Before this he had never known this particular weakness of his mirrors. As much as he knew chakra didn't affect his technique, though it was perhaps because he had never seen a powerful ninjutsu that could destroy the ice mirrors, and none of the people he had killed had come close to use any thing that has nothing to do with chakra attack. He could contribute this to the fact that he seldom used this particular technique. Usually they were already dead before he used it. To know this weakness when he was at disadvantage was ill-timed.

Haku created mizu bunshins to help him deal with them. At this rate he would have to drop off the technique. He couldn't use this technique for long as it drained quite fraction of chakra.

Haku looked at his savior's battle. Zabuza appeared as if he enjoyed the fight, much like his opponent. Both not stopping nor giving the other time to breath.

It was amazing to see someone so young like him able to fight the A-rank missing-nin equally. And that was after the older man finished his sword. The feminine boy was worried of the missing-nin's condition. When he met the blonde kid, both first and second times, the boy was full of bloodlust, daring anyone to challenge him.

His heart clenched when Zabuza's shoulder was pierced.

With a determination, Haku took out his poisoned senbon. He needed to help him, and if he had to do it by killing these ninjas then so be it.

0-0 0-0 0-0

Naruto was caught off guard when Zabuza loosened his hold on his sword, causing him to stumble off balance. The older ninja threw him off the bridge in his moment of surprise.

Half drowned on the sea, the blond quickly focused his chakra to his free arm, which he later used as a support for his body, touching the water surface as if it was a solid thing. Flipping backward, he landed and slid on the calm surface before he stopped. His clothes was drenched by the salty water.

His opponent jumped from the bridge and landed on the water deftly.

"This will be your grave, boy. I have the advantage here," hearing it, Naruto chuckled.

"Trying to prevent me from using fire?" He raised an eyebrow. "It's true that you have better chance defeating me here in an area you're familiar with, but…" Naruto's blue chakra exploded around him and surged to the water beneath him, taking hold of the water below, as it connected each molecule and bound them into one, just like what he did days ago, only in faster time, albeit there was a decrease in control. "Who says that I'm only using fire?" tendrils of water surrounded him, coiled around his body like snakes dancing on the air.

"…Fire and water. You have strange bloodlines, boy," Zabuza remarked.

"Bloodlines? Hardly, although most people who see this will be mistaken them with bloodlines. The water is merely a chakra technique while the fire is a privilege I got from having a great burden placed upon me. It is no longer a burden for me though. Infact," Naruto closed his eyes and opened them to reveal a pair of red blood slitted orbs, "It has become my strength," the tendrils started to attack Zabuza, raining him down.

Zabuza was jumping around, trying his best not to be caught by any of the fast moving water vines. He decided to blast it off with his wind attack when one of them managed to slice his thigh. Grunting, he stumbled on the water, but managed to balance himself.

An ice mirror appeared out of thin air in front of the blonde genin. His subordinate came out of the mirror and furiously attacked the blond. He managed to throw the younger boy's body into the sea before trying his hardest to freeze the sea below to trap the genin inside the block of ice. The boy panted when he finished doing it.

Zabuza frowned, but before he could reprimand him from interrupting their battle, and angry roar startled him. The white furred two tailed fox leapt toward Haku and attacked him. Green flame bolts were heading toward the lithe boy. Two managed to hit him, and Haku coughed blood. He threw poisoned senbons toward the animal, but it simply roared and blasted them off with chakra wave.

There was a rumble stopping the fox from further attacking Haku. There were cracking sounds coming from the ice block as fractures started to appear on it. There was a loud explosion and lots of smoke covering the entire area. Thick fog surrounded the spot where the explosion occurred. The air around it was distorted. The water in the area started to boil and both ninjas felt hot all of sudden. Wind started to pick up because of the difference of temperature and the mist started to disperse. Blue scorching flame surrounded a small body in the center, creating smoke as it touched the water. The former drenched clothes was now dry because of the heat.

"You should wait for your turn," the blonde figure told Haku, tightening his grip on his burning sword, before he dashed like a rocket toward the older boy. Kibi went to attack Zabuza. Haku threw his weapons toward him, but just like his pet, Naruto dismissed it as if it was nothing. There was a surge of ice spikes coming out of the ocean, but Naruto's flame simply melt them off. In a second, the legacy of yondaime already appeared in front of Haku. Haku dodged the slice, but Naruto used his free hand to punch him in the face, cracking his huter-nin mask. Before he could retaliate, Naruto's sword drove through his chest, impaling his heart.

The older boy touched the wound with his trembling hand, feeling the thick red liquid oozing from the fatal wound, before looking at the impassive face of his killer. Dark blue orbs were watching him as he withdrew his blade from his body. Bloods splattered on his whiskered face and dropped to the sea, mixing the transparent liquid with red color.

Haku coughed blood. He let a small smile adorned his face, as he watched his killer, silently complimenting him, before he dropped backward to the sea. The image he could see was blurry. From the younger boy's blue orbs, to the blue sky above, before everything went dark.

"Zabu…za…san," Haku's body plunged into the cold water below.

Naruto didn't know why, but killing the older ninja made his heart clenched. He didn't like this feeling. He shouldn't feel any kind of remorse at all. Why did he feel something like this toward him? Heck, he was having fun killing the other ninjas! He didn't feel anything when Iruka was almost killed and this man was practically a stranger!

Completely confused with the new emotion, he looked at Zabuza who was currently being engaged by his fox. The fox managed to end the stalemate when Zabuza was too caught up by his subordinate's death. Naruto gripped his bloodied sword tighter.

The only thing he could do for the boy he had mercilessly killed…

Seconds later he found himself watching Zabuza's lifeless body dropped like his subordinate, only this time he caught it before it plunged into the water.

Was to send the man he most cherished to die with him…

Naruto was silent for a moment before he spoke at his fox, "Kibi, retrieve his body from the sea. Don't do anything to damage it further," the white fox looked confused, but complied with his command. Naruto leapt to the bridge and landed on it with a soft thud. He dropped Zabuza's body to the ground. The hand that gripped the sword loosened.

No one bothered him when they saw his frowning bloodied face, as if he was thinking deeply. Seconds later, Kibi arrived on the bridge with Haku's body and dropped it beside Zabuza's before following its master who walked away from the bridge, hands clutching both swords, his and Zabuza's. He passed through the crowds who were running to the bridge with daily utensils as their weapons. Some were concerned with the young boy whose face and clothes were covered with blood and even stopped to ask what happened, while others continued their journey, but Naruto continued to walk, as if he didn't hear it. His giant fox walked alongside him, scaring the townspeople who immediately continued their walks to the bridge.

Inari's eyes widened when he met him half way to the bridge. "Naruto-nii—" Tazuna's grandson stopped talking when he noticed his condition. There was a hollow look on his eyes. The young kid then stared at the blood on one of the sword he was gripping and on his face and clothes. He was panicked when he thought he was wounded, but was surprised when he found no injury. Seeing his blank face, Inari swallowed and followed the others. Naruto would talk to him if he wanted to later. For now he had much more important thing to do, which was to help the ninjas battled Gatou's lackeys.

He didn't know that the battle was already ended. The missing-nins were all either died or captured, Gatou's lackeys were unconscious on his base, and Gatou himself was beaten down. He marched with the others, going to the opposite direction from his blonde hero.

0-0 0-0

Naruto stared at the grave he made on his own. Hours after the battle ended he went back to the bridge to retrieve Zabuza's and Haku's bodies, but found nothing. He asked Inari and found that their bodies would be dumped in a spot along with the other dead ninjas. When he asked for their bodies, the man who kept the dead bodies raised an eyebrow, but complied with it, as he was the one who killed them.

Naruto then dug a grave on a hill and buried them there together. He stared at it for hours, not saying anything. He was still frowning. When the sun set in the West, he stood up and snatched Zabuza's sword. Originally he intended to leave the sword there, but changed his mind afterwards. His confused mind tried to reason that it was only as a token to remind him of his first kills. To the victor goes the spoil. But Kyuubi snorted and laughed, saying that he was in denial. Not wanting to argue with the demon, Naruto stayed silent.

0-0 0-0 0-0

Inari alongside the kids Naruto hanging around with in Wave watched him left with the other Leaf ninjas sadly. The children were crying and sobbing as their hero went back to Konoha. Inari sniffed, trying to stop the tears from falling down when he heard the question.

"So, what should we name the bridge?" a brown haired man asked the others. The bridge had been just completed today.

"Great Tazu—" the bridge builder started.

"THE GREAT NARUTO BRIDGE!" Inari shouted loudly to the crowds.

"Eh? Why should we name our bridge after food?" one of the townspeople asked.

"NOT AFTER FOOD!" a small kid protested. "It's after Naruto-niisan!"

"Who?"

"He's the one who inspired bravery on me, reminding me that a coward will not be able to do anything. Because of that I can gather all of you to go against Gatou," _even if he was already handled by Naruto-niisan when we arrived_ Tazuna's grandson added inwardly. "And he was the one who bring down Gatou's reign on our country!"

"Ah, you mean that blonde kid. He is indeed an admirable kid," a woman remembered the rumor about him succeeded in beating down Gatou and his men on his own and killed several of the missing-nins the crime lord hired.

"Naruto…Naruto Bridge. The Great Naruto Bridge…it sounds great to me," someone said in the crowds. The others nodded at each other, tasting the name with their tongues.

The crowds murmured in agreement and cheered loudly.

"Allright!" the kids who almost to the point of worshipping Naruto shouted happily. "The bridge name will be The Great Naruto Bridge then!" the townspeople applaud merrily.

"Wha?" Tazuna was staring in shock at his grandson for suggesting that name. How could someone who almost killed him many times got the pleasure of getting his name taken for the very bridge he was building! It was impossible! Unfair! It should be his name, not that blasted kid! "Noooooooooooo!" his dejected scream was drowned by the loud cheer of others.

TBC…

For Haku's and Zabuza's fans, I'm sorry, but I decided to kill them off. They won't have anything to do with my plotline anymore and I can't keep them alive just to please you all.

He he he…poor Tazuna. At last the Wave arc is finished. Chuunin Exam arc will come soon.

This chapter is a lot more serious than the other chapters on this fic, I think. Oh well, it isn't like I put it under humor category. The end of the battle was a bit wobbly. At first I thought to describe the emotion better and put some other scenes to prolong the chapter, but I was too sleepy to care. I think this chapter is still adequate enough.

REVIEW, please!


	17. Part Seventeen

Author's Note: A new side story for you. I was reminded by one of the reviewers that omake was for a fanfic that wasn't related to the story and full of OOC-ness. Yeah, yeah, I know, but I think it sounded cool so I used it, if someone complained though, then I'll just change the name to 'side story'. Below is not Iruka bashing, only Iruka's …misfortune.

Someone complained that Naruto was too strong. Well, actually I chose B and A-rank missing-nins whose abilities weren't good against Naruto's skill and ability (Naruto is immune to most poison coz of Kyuubi, bugs and ice because of his fire). The genjutsu user was killed by Kibi, not Naruto, the fat Mist-nin was killed by Kakashi, and the A-rank stone-nin was disabled by Neji, and co. He was better than Zabuza because of the tricks he learned from Kyuubi, better stamina, chakra reserve, and better regeneration, though the missing-nin gave him a good challenge. No worry, I don't have intention to make him a God-like ninja now.

And someone also complained that for a beginner, Naruto appeared to be too in-tune with his sword. He's not exactly a beginner. He's above average, knowing the basic, but isn't really interested to pursue kenjutsu further (why should he? He has a better knowledge and technique he has on his disposal courtesy of Kyuubi who doesn't know a thing about using weapon much less a sword), but the knowledge of basic kenjutsu coupled with his reflex and improved senses made a deadly combination if used. And he wasn't exactly using sword only. Because if he did, he definitely would have bigger trouble fighting against a swordsman better than him.

**Side story**:

Naruto was munching bread as he walked leisurely, when he turned to see a suspicious looking 'rock'. He didn't need to think to know that the so-called rock was fake. There was no square rock unless it was crafted by someone, and no rock was able to walk. And it wasn't even made from a real rock either.

He sighed, knowing who it was, or who they were to be exact. Eating the last piece of bread, Naruto vanished and left a shadow clone. The clone continued to walk, followed by the fake rock. The real Naruto landed behind the 'rock' and pulled out the disguise. He almost laughed when the three children under the rock disguise didn't seem to realize that their costume was taken and continued to follow his clone.

Only after the blond intentionally coughed to catch their attention and a windy breeze blew their hairs did they turn and see the rock costume on the hand of the very one they were currently stalking. Their eyes bugged out, frantically searching for their disguise and looked embarrassed at being caught. They turned back to see another Naruto. Confused, they glanced back and forth between them. The clone went out with a poof.

"A ha ha, Naruto-niisan, long time no see!" Konohamaru scratched his head nervously, knowing they were caught.

"Uh-huh. And?" Naruto watched amused, seeing the children's lame attempt to divert his attention.

"Uh…nothing! Gotta go! Bye!" the three children turned and ran, only to bump into someone who suddenly appeared out of nowhere. "Hey, what's the big deal? Watch out where you're go…ing," the grandson of sandaime took steps back when he noticed the Rock hitae ate placed on the masked ninja's forehead. Before he could scream, the man took the children and threatened them with kunai. Needles to say the kids were horrified.

"How easy it is to slip into this village unnoticed. Boy, I want you to give message to your Hokage that I hold his grandson a hostage."

The blonde genin blinked. He already knew that someone was following him and that someone was Iruka, judging by his scent. He just wondered why he pulled out a stunt like this.

He didn't know why Iruka disguised himself as a Rock-nin. There was no way he was a spy. He didn't have the guts. And he was acting really horribly. If he really wanted a hostage he should've waited until Naruto was gone, not announcing his presence, and went outside Konoha before sending a note to Hokage himself. That was stupid thing to do. He was wondering if today was April's Fool Day, but it wasn't even April yet, unless there was something wrong with his calendar.

Not wanting to deal with whatever weirdness Iruka determined to pull, Naruto simply stared at him as if he had lost his mind. "INTRUDER!" he shouted loudly with a megaphone that seemed to appear out of thin air. The shout rang through the area. The older ninja's eyes widened.

Seconds after the shout, a squad of ANBU members found a ninja from Konoha's enemy village was holding a kunai with 3 Konoha children on his hold and one of them was sandaime's grandson to boot. Before Iruka could say anything about his supposed job to test the chuunin candidate, he was already handled. The children ran to Naruto, crying in fear.

"Bye-bye," Naruto waved cheerfully to his former sensei who was currently being bound and dragged by the ANBUs. The older ninja didn't fight, being too shocked to do anything, including telling the ANBUs that it was only a test.

Serves him right!

The next day when the blond met Ibiki, the man was smirking joyfully. He told Naruto that Iruka was currently being placed in a holding cell. The poor man was still thinking that the huge scarred man didn't believe that he was only doing his task to test the young blond. Ibiki enjoyed scaring him shitless. It wasn't often to see the kind academy teacher so flustered, nervous, and fearful like that.

If only the brunette knew that the head of investigation already knew that he wasn't a spy… Both were laughing at Iruka's misfortune, which was currently being a joke inside ANBU department. The investigator had to excuse himself twice out of the room for 'private' matter when he 'interrogated' Iruka. The truth was Ibiki and some other ninjas were doing their best not to laugh out loud in front of the panicked man, as they found his situation to be funny.

The End

Poor Iruka (snickers). Although I like him, it's fun to make fun of him. He3x

Part Seventeen 

Naruto eyed his bankbooks with a smile. He was already given his inheritance and his six years worth of money from sandaime and he also got Gatou's money, although it was only half of it.

_Are you regretting to give the other half of the money to Wave country?_ Kyuubi asked him. 

/Nope. They needed it more than me. Beside I still have half of them. They're a country full of people, while I'm just a single person. And they did use my name for the bridge's name. I'll think of it as a gift for Inari and the other children/ he closed his bankbooks. /Not to mention I control many of his remaining businesses. It's a pity I won't have control over the more…dirtier business, since some of the thugs most probably will take it over. But for the licensed business I'll have all control over them./

**_Licensed business?_** The fox raised an eyebrow.

/Yep. Hotels, licensed casinos, drugstores, transportation companies, even several licensed brothels! He really had his claws on many countries. And I'll be the one to reap the result/ Naruto chuckled.

_**How did you know about them?**_

/I sent a copy of the deal to Gatou's lawyer and the letter he sent to me arrived just today. What about visiting them some time when we're already out of Konoha/ the fox demon shrugged.

**_Whatever_**. Naruto grinned and laid on his bed.

/And perhaps we can buy the tropical island we already planned/ the blond mumbled. The fox shook his head as he watched Naruto drifted to sleep.

0-0 0-0 0-0

Naruto quirked an eyebrow when Konohamaru passed him, screaming and running from a furious Sakura. He wondered what the kid did or said to her to make her angry like that. Udon and Moegi were following the two. Shrugging, he continued his walk, only to stop when he felt a demonic chakra nearby. He didn't see Konohamaru bumped a ninja with sand hitae-ate as he focused on the tree near the third grandson. He could feel the person's eyes, whoever he was, were focused on him to, apparently he felt someone watching him. The silence was broken when he heard the brown haired boy cried out, being handled by the strange black clad ninja.

"Let me GO!" the young boy struggled on the air as he was lifted roughly by the man he bumped.

"How dare you bump me, little brat! I'll teach you a lesson!"

"Please, just give him back," Sakura pleaded, worrying about Konohamaru. She didn't like the kid, but that didn't mean she wanted him beaten. Plus she would be screwed if she let sandaime's grandson beaten in front of her eyes without giving a hand.

"Yeah, let Konohamaru go!" Moegi shouted, beside her Udon nodded vigorously, but the ninja only sneered.

"Wow Konohamaru, 2 kidnappings in 2 days? That must be a record for you" Naruto's voice broke in. He looked amused at the scene.

"Naruto-niisan!" the younger boy shouted in relief.

"You want him?" the Sand ninja challenged.

"Kankurou, stop it! Just give him back! We don't want any trouble" his teammate, a blonde kunoichi frowned, not liking the situation, but he ignored her.

"Nope," Konohamaru's hope was dashed when Naruto said it and felt betrayed. "But since I'm kind," he ignored Sakura's snort, "I'll give you information that the last time someone kidnapped the boy in your hold, the ninja was brought down to be interrogated by ANBU."

The ninja was hesitant for a moment before looked him back, "You're lying."

"Am not. Unless you want a war break out between Konoha and Suna, you should let the Third's grandson go," hearing that the boy was Sandaime's grandson, Kankurou dropped him down in shock. He almost ruined the mission! They couldn't be caught before even entering the goddamn chuunin exam!

"Ouch," Konohamaru rubbed his bottom, being dropped on his ass. He stood and glared at the bully and kicked his leg as hard as he could, eliciting a cry from the man. The young boy stuck his tongue and ran behind Naruto, seeking his protection from the growling man. A flying rock was thrown right into the sand ninja's head, causing him to look up to its source, a younger black haired shinobi who was wearing a cocky smirk on his face.

Late timing, Naruto chimed inwardly. Sakura almost cheered when her inner self reminded her that she no longer pursue him again. Too bad Moegi still fell to his charm, and even the blonde sand kunoichi checked him out.

"Would be a cool appearance if only he didn't got the wrong timing," Konohamaru mumbled behind him, causing the blond to grin, agreeing with him.

"Kankurou you're shaming our village," a voice on the very tree Naruto was observing said, freezing the painted-face man on his track.

"G-Gaara," he stuttered when he saw a shorter red haired boy with panda eyes stared sternly at him. The other sand ninja was standing upside down the tree branch.

"Even if you're my older brother, I won't hesitate to kill you," he reappeared on the ground. Naruto looked back and forth between them, as the only female was trying to dissuade the tension between them. They were brothers? He stared at Kankurou's face paint.

Must be the face paint… though the red head did kinda look like a panda…

Naruto's mouth twitched.

The fox inside him rumbled, causing him to raise his eyebrow in surprise as he looked up toward Gaara in fascination, before it turned into cold calculation.

"Shukaku…" the sand trio quickly whipped their heads toward him when they heard the name. They thought they were hearing things when they saw the blonde ninja's smug smirk. Naruto chuckled. "I never think that I'll find another jinchuuriki here of all places," he looked at him with glee anticipation. "Perhaps this exam won't be such a waste afterall."

'Jinchuuriki?' was the thought of others, not knowing what it meant.

"Who are you?" Gaara's eyes narrowed. How did he know Shukaku's name? He dismissed others as his eyes focused on the other boy.

"Uzumaki Naruto, at your service," Naruto made a mocking bow. "Nice to meet you…Ichibi," he whispered the last one so only Gaara heard it. Much to his siblings' surprise, Gaara's usually impassive eyes widened in shock. Naruto chuckled before he disappeared from everyone's sight.

"Who—what the hell is he?" Kankurou cried out in disbelief. He looked at Sakura and Sasuke who looked at each other in silent conversation.

"That's one question we're also trying to figure out," the pink haired girl shrugged before she walked away from her spot, not minding the three sand ninjas being in Konoha because she already knew about the upcoming chuunin exam. The three children looked around them nervously before they decided to follow her. Better stick with the temperamental girl rather than being killed by psychotic ninjas from other village.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes when he watched the red head and gave him one last look before he too leapt away.

"Kankurou, Temari, let's go!" the two reluctantly followed their youngest sibling.

0-0 0-0 0-0

Sakura was reading her genjutsu scroll as she walked, when she heard her name was called.

"Sakura! Hey, big forehead!" She turned her head in annoyance, hearing the name-calling.

"What do you want, Ino-pig?" she sighed. The blonde girl was accompanied by her two teammates, one looked as if he wanted to be anywhere but here, and the other didn't seem to care about his surrounding as he ate the snack on his hand.

"I want to say that Sasuke-kun will be mine!" she challenged.

Sakura nodded. "That's good."

"Yes, that's goo—WHAT?" her jaw dropped.

"You can have him. I'm no longer interested," she walked away but her arm was suddenly grabbed by her now ex-rival for Sasuke's affection.

"What do you mean?" she looked at Sakura as if she suddenly grew another head.

"I just think that my survival is more important than my childish crush. Now excuse me, I need to train," but Ino didn't let her go.

"Survival?" Sakura rolled her eyes and turned in annoyance.

"Yes, survival. I have a psychotic teammate who is bloodthirsty and a delusional uncaring avenger as another teammate. My life is at stake here!" she muttered before she wrenched her arm from her grip and leapt to the nearest roof. Ino looked at her, jumping from roof to roof easily, in shock. Since when did she start to take her training hard?

After 5 minutes of silence, still staring at the roof Sakura first landed, she whipped her head so fast to her teammates. "If Asuma-sensei play shogi with you again in our training time…" she growled. "I'll beat you so bad you won't be able to sit for months," she hissed at her lazy friend and stomped away.

Chouji stopped eating and looked at Shikamaru. Their eyes locked.

"So troublesome," the shadow user groaned before he followed her. Chouji continued his eating.

Unbeknownst to the other two, Shikamaru was thinking about what Sakura had said. The avenger must me Uchiha Sasuke. He had heard of the Uchiha massacre. But the bloodthirsty psycho teammate?

Naruto?

He shook his head.

No way.

She must be saying it wrong. Perhaps she meant that Uchiha boy too.

Shikamaru scratched his head and sighed before dismissing the thought.

0-0 0-0 0-0

"Is this the report of your mission?" Kakashi nodded at the Third.

"Yes, I'm concerned that Naruto was able to summon a fox, a two-tailed fox no less," the jounin looked serious.

Sandaime chuckled, making the ex-ANBU member frowned. "Don't worry, Kakashi. I have made an agreement with Naruto. As long as he isn't attacked first, he won't attack us."

"But his strength—"

"It's okay. I know that he hid his real power although I don't know the real extent of his strength. I know that you're concerned, but the seal isn't breaking. The Fourth made sure of that," Kakashi tensed when he heard about his ex- and currently dead sensei. "He's not a threat to us. But if you're still worry about it, I'll let you to watch him, but don't make it noticeable."

Kakashi nodded thankfully and excused himself.

"I hope I'm doing the right thing…Arashi," Sarutobi looked at the photograph of the Fourth with a heavy sigh. "Your son has the right to be angry, and I don't want to push his thinning patience further or we'll have a really big trouble."

0-0 0-0 0-0

Naruto entered the building designated for the first exam with his teammates in tow. He was carrying summon scrolls on his vest, containing his weapons, survival kits, and other things he thought might be needed later. Sakura was carrying a backpack, preparing to survive in wilderness. According to her research, most chuunin exam had survival exam and that there wouldn't be time given for them to get any kind of preparation after the exam began. Sasuke didn't brought any kind of survival kits but he brought more weapons than usual.

"Which room Kakashi said we had to enter?" Naruto asked his teammates.

"301," the pink haired girl answered. Naruto nodded and went upstairs. They were in 2nd story when they noticed a big hand sign for the direction of room 301. The blond blinked and so were his teammates.

"Room 301 in 2nd floor?" Naruto raised his eyebrow. "Who had gotten drunk to put the sign in the wrong place?" The other two shrugged before they went to the 3rd floor, not caring the slightest of the sign. The three quickly found the room 301 and entered it.

Meanwhile Kakashi was waiting in another room for his students that wouldn't come inside, ready to lecture them. Too bad they didn't pass the room '301' which was guarded by a couple of disguised chuunin. Team 7 was greeted by the other rookies, while Kakashi was starting to panic when they haven't arrived yet, not knowing they were already in room 301, thinking about why they were late.

"Sasuke-kun," Ino quickly glomped the annoyed Uchiha while casting a glance to Sakura who seemed not to care about it in the slightest. The blonde girl's eyebrow was twitching.

Why didn't she react?

Shikamaru and Chouji glanced at each other, before they shrugged simultaneously. Sasuke wrenched away from Ino's hold.

"So you guys enter the exam too?" Kiba barked as he walked to them. The only reply he got from them was a nod from the only female on team 7, but after that it was only silence. "Naruto are you sure you're gonna make it out?" Kiba mocked to break the uncomfortable silence. Sakura and Sasuke were looking at him as if he had a dead wish. Shikamaru noticed their reaction and wondered about it.

Naruto walked toward the dog boy casually, crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow, looking at him as if he was inferior nuisance. "Why Kiba, I don't know you care about me," the blond grinned. "You should think of yourself because who knows if someone beat the crap out of you while you're thinking about me," he said cheekily. The brown haired boy's face was red from anger. 'Sheesh, so easy to rile up.'

"What did you say?" he shouted furiously and lunged at him. Akamaru stayed on the floor, watching his master attacked his ex-classmate. With a smirk, Naruto backflipped and landed on the edge of a chair. Kiba was moving to attack him when a voice startled him.

"Geez you rookies are screaming like little girls. Do you think you're having a picnic here?" an older leaf ninja with glasses approached the rookie teams.

"Who the hell are you?" the Inuzuka boy shouted angrily.

"My name is Yakushi Kabuto. And you're so noisy. Take a look around you," he said. Kiba looked around him and gulped when he noticed that almost everyone inside was glaring at them. "An advice as your senior, you shouldn't act as if the exam was a picnic. These guys are best of the best genin teamss from the hidden villages which sent their representatives here," the grey haired boy then told them that it was his seventh attempts to be a chuunin, and information about hidden villages and how many teams they sent to Konoha. He then showed them his nin-info cards proudly.

"That's funny," Naruto said, earning attentions from the others.

"What is funny?" Kabuto fixed his glasses.

"Because information like that should be kept as secret," he looked at him piercingly. "Not only you, a mere genin that has failed six times to be a chuunin, know of these kinds of data about Konoha ninjas, you even said that you have info about foreign ninjas. How exactly did you get it?" the blond asked curiously. The others turned to Kabuto, expecting the answer.

The older nin fixed his glasses with a wide smile, though inwardly he was nervous as hell. "I have a friend inside the department to give me this info," he replied.

"You cheat?" Ino asked him wide-eyed. Kabuto nodded with a smile. Inwardly he sighed in relief.

"Yes, but unfortunately I don't have complete data about them. I will be in real troule if I had that kind of thing," he lied.

"What about the foreign ninja though?" Sasuke narrowed his eyes, eyeing him suspiciously.

"Eh, I don't have info of most of them, only the ones that might be a threat. I use my connection outside Konoha to acquire info about them and I include rumors too. So how is it? Do you want to know about someone? Perhaps I have info about them," he offered, hoping for them not to ask about it anymore.

"Connection outside Konoha? Wow, you'll make an excellent spy," Naruto smirked.

"…" Kabuto didn't know if he was joking or not, but he didn't like the stares he was currently receiving from the rookies. "Thank you…"

"You're welcome," he snorted. "I don't mean it as a compliment though."

The man with the round glasses nodded hesitantly. "So anyone curious of someone?"

Sasuke was silent for a moment before he looked up. "A red haired ninja from Sand."

"Do you know his name?"

"I think it was Gaara," Kabuto nodded and shuffled his nin cards.

"Found it. Sabaku no Gaara. Many C-rank missions and even several B and A-rank ones," he whistled. "Rumors said that he didn't even have a scratch on him after doing his missions. That's one hell of interesting guy if you ask me. Better stay away from him. Any others?"

"Hyuuga Neji, Rock Lee and…" he looked at his blonde teammate. "Uzumaki Naruto," the other rookies (minus Sakura) were looking at him in shock, wondering why he was asking about his own teammate who was dubbed as dead last. Kabuto didn't react, not wanting to make them suspect him more, to know that he knew Naruto was his teammate.

"Uh…let's see…Hyuuga Neji and Rock Lee are teammates under Maito Gai with another genin named Tenten. Lots of D-rank missions, some C-rank missions and even C-rank missions which turned into B-rank missions. Both of them excel in taijutsu. Hyuuga Neji comes from the Hyuuga clan, branch member," Hinata winced, but no one noticed. "He's said to be the newest prodigy after Uchiha Itachi," Sasuke clenched his fist when he heard the name. "Rock Lee seems to be apprenticed under his own jounin instructor, Maito gai, the taijutsu specialist. He has excellent taijutsu for a ninja his age, but according to rumors he's said to be unable to use chakra in the form of ninjutsu or genjutsu. A kind of genetic disease perhaps?"

"And the last one…Uzumaki Naruto. He's…your own teammate?" Kabuto looked up, raising an eyebrow when he saw the dark haired boy nodded. "Records of mission you already know as you're his own teammate. Uh, he's said to be dead last of the year," he looked nervously at Naruto as if he didn't want to offend him, but said boy didn't seem to be angry in the slightest. "Bad chakra control, average taijutsu and ninjutsu. Genjutsu is bad, but good stamina and chakra reserve."

"Ha ha ha, did you hear him, Naruto? You're a dead last!" Kiba laughed.

Naruto gave him a sweet smile. "And you're unable to touch this dead last," he pointed out. At this the dog boy glowered.

"That was because he interrupted us before I could bring you down!" he shouted.

"You're just in denial, Inuzuka. Face it!" Naruto gave him a mocking grin.

"Why you!" Shino grabbed his teammate so he wouldn't be able to attack the blond. "Let me GO!" he yelled at the bug user, but Shino didn't budge.

"And according to inside source, you were the one who prevented the theft of the forbidden scroll," Kabuto looked at him unsurely, asking for confirmation. The others were looking at Naruto in surprise.

"WHAT? Is that true?" Kiba asked in disbelief, forgetting his initial anger.

"Last I heard the thief was held in prison," Naruto confirmed.

Kabuto didn't say anything afterwards, afraid to make the apparently perceptive boy to suspect him further, so he abandoned his plan to insult the Sound village.

A moment later Ibiki appeared on the room along with other examiners in poofs. "Alright you brats, the chuunin exam will be started. Go to your seat according to the paper you had received before you entered this room and shut up or I'll kick you out of this room which means you'll be out of chuunin exam too. First exam will be a writing exam," some were groaning. "I said SHUT THE HELL UP!" the tough looking examiner shouted, causing them to squirm, feeling intimidated.

Naruto's mind was already connecting Ibiki's presence with the exam. Ibiki was a master at interrogation and intimidation. There must be a reason why he was chosen as the first examiner.

"There are 10 questions. The last question will be given to you 15 minutes before the exam is finished. You have 10 points. If you cheat, you'll lose 2 points. If you were caught cheating for the fifth time you'll be thrown out of the exam," here he smirked, "Including your other team members," there were cries of outrage. "SILENCE!" he gave them death glare. "Do you understand?" he hissed dangerously. There were reluctant nods. "Good!" he barked. "If you're noisy I will throw you out! Now, BEGIN!" the genins opened their papers. Jaws were dropping when most of them couldn't answer the questions.

"WHAT THE HELL! This isn't a fucking questions for genins!" a brown haired genin cried out.

"YOU!" Ibiki pointed him and then at the door. "OUT! Your teammates too!"

"WHAT? Bu—"

"I said," Ibiki hissed. "_Out_!" the three quickly exited the room. The other two were growling at their nervous teammate. The rest of the genins were gulping, seeing that it wasn't just a threat.

Naruto did find that the genin who said that was right. These weren't questions for genins. Not all of them were as smart as Sakura or a geek like her. There was no way all chuunin consisted of scholars! Beside a smart chuunin didn't mean good chuunin.

That meant they had to search the answer. But they weren't allowed to chea—wait a minute. Something clicked inside his head. Ibiki didn't say that they weren't allowed to cheat. Only that if they were caught cheating for the 5th time they would be thrown out. This was an exam in which the examiners knew there would be many cheating attempts and so they would be more alert. And since the examiners were chuunins and even some jounins, it should be an impressive technique. Even if they knew someone was cheating, but if the cheating skill impressed them, that person wouldn't be thrown out. They were just looking for potentials and throwing out the bad seeds. This was just a fucking information gathering exam!

Naruto grinned before he frowned again. His method of info gathering was via torture. He never did it without that, and so he couldn't think of any skill he could use to gather info aside from threatening bodily harm to his victim. And that would mean he would be seen by those examiners. And he wasn't much of a scholar. Who cares about wind speed and the likes, when he could just do it with instinct! He groaned inwardly.

What should he do?

Wait a minute…Ibiki implied that 0 points meant they would be thrown out, but he gave us 10 points as starter. Did that mean if he weren't cheating (which mean his point wouldn't be reduced) he wouldn't be thrown out? Naruto grinned before he sent a wink to his faithful 'customer'.

Ibiki smirked, knowing that Naruto already figured the exam out.

Naruto grinned. He already figured out how to pass the first exam, but that didn't mean he would stay idle. He needed to reduce the amount of his rivals to make sure there wouldn't be many competitions. That way the chance of him to complete the exam would be higher.

How?

That was easy. Ibiki had given him an easy way. Naruto laughed inwardly, causing the sleeping Kyuubi to open one of his eyes and growl in annoyance.

He created shadow clones secretly. There were poofs of smoke around the room but no sound. It was an ability he acquired after he trained this technique for quite long time. Instead of shadow clones with his real size, they were much _much _smaller, so no one would notice them. He created 5 shadow clones that immediately using henge to turn into animals with sharp fangs.

"YEEAAAAAARRRGHH!" 5 genins were screaming simultaneously and jumping from their respective seats, rubbing their bitten bottoms, surprising others. Seconds later they were looking at Ibiki fearfully.

"Get _out_!" three teams (because 4 of the 5 screaming genins came from the same 2 teams) failed because of the attack done by Naruto's shadow clones.

Ibiki sent a suspicious look at Naruto who drummed his fingers on his table 'innocently', giving him a cheeky smile.

The head of interrogator sighed and shook his head in amusement.

He should've known.

And thus the chuunin exam began.

TBC…

Heh, I like to make Kabuto sweat nervously. And hope you like my version of the first exam.

Don't forget to give me your reviews!


	18. Part Eighteen

Author's Note: uh…guys, I have to cut my time for writing, and browsing internet short or I'll be truly a goner. My assignments and final exam…I think I don't need to say anything else. For those readers who want me to update soon (this and for other fics), please understand.

Naruto won't be suspicious of Orochimaru who disguised himself as a grass genin in first exam. He suppresses his chakra, so Naruto, Ibiki, Anko, and sandaime don't notice it.

Part Eighteen

While his bunshins were wreaking havocs by biting people and causing them to be kicked out of the room, Naruto was frowning and tapping his table softly. The tense silence was occasionally broken by some yells and Ibiki's shout.

The kyuubi vessel was in a predicament. He had thought that with answer sheet full of unanswered questions he could pass the exam, but…and this was why he was growling softly, causing one of his former classmates by the name of Hyuuga Hinata looked at him nervously. There was a possibility he wouldn't be able to pass this first exam even if he had answered those questions because he knew some if not most of the examiners were biased. Not to mention why he was sure that he could pass the first exam without answering those questions before.

What to do? What to do?

Asking his animal bunshins to relay the answers to him? He looked at Kiba and Akamaru who barked. Naruto's eyes went toward the examiners and noticed they were ignoring Akamaru's barks.

'Well I'll be damned. They didn't take him out? The dog's barks are practically screaming 'I want to take a peek on your answers!' and they just let it go?'

He should've brought his foxes to aid him! They didn't need to bark in order for him to know what they're thinking about. He could practically see using their eyes!

He then looked at the ceiling when he heard weird sounds and noticed there were mirrors at the ceiling, controlled by that weapon specialist. Who was her name again? Twotwo? Tutu? Tonton? Ah yeah, Tenten.

Naruto's eyebrows twitched. _They _didn't mark her for the obvious so-called information gathering techniques? By the demons of hell! She practically craned her neck and head to look up at the ceiling, as if saying 'Look up, please. And you'll see something interesting there!'

The Kyuubi vessel didn't need to look behind him to see Sakura was answering the questions using her own intelligence, while Sasuke was copying the answers using his blasted sharingan. He was sure as hell that none of the examiners missed the oh-so-obvious red orbs of the Uchiha boy. But they still ignored it and happily chucking out other chuunin candidates.

'Oh yeah, I remember that they won't want their last Uchiha (discounting the murderer itself) to be stuck in the first exam. At least this way I know I will be able to pass. Being teamed up with the asshole has its perks…its _rare_ perks.' With that Naruto waited, leaving his answer sheet blank.

"Alright, brats. Put down your answer sheet. It's time for the 10th question," Ibiki barked suddenly, causing the participants to jerk. "If you feel you won't make it, you should give up."

"Why would we want to give up? I'm certain that I will pass this exam," a brave genin…or perhaps you could call him naïve and suicidal spoke up, causing his teammates to glare hard on the brown haired boy.

Instead of kicking him (and the rest of his teammates) out, Ibiki smirked evilly. "Felling high and mighty, aren't you?" the brown haired genin swallowed. "Well perhaps if you didn't interrupt me, I can tell you the rest of the rules," he paused for an effect. "If you can't pass this exam, you won't be able to be a chuunin for the rest of your life."

"WHAT?" chorused most of the genins. They quickly shut their mouths, so the examiner wouldn't have another reason to kick them out.

"However, if you decide to give up, you'll be able to compete in another chuunin exam. So, think carefully."

"B-but you can't do that!" a genin cried out, no longer caring whether he would be kicked out or not.

"Oh, believe me, I can do it. It's unfortunate for you that I'm your examiner this year. So, what's your decision?" his eyes were observing the nervous genins.

Naruto rolled his eyes. Ibiki was sure convincing with his act. Destroying the potential chuunins just because of a stupid written exam? Yeah, right. He would sooner eat his foxy hat before he believed it. Not to mention the riot it would cause when the other villages heard it.

Still, he turned his head and saw several teams gave up.

Fools, the lots of them.

He blinked when he saw Sakura bit her lip and in the process of lifting her hand.

What the fuck was that girl doing? She should understand that she could pass the written exam, and so was with Sasuke…but not with him…

Damn!

And she thought that he wouldn't be able to answer the stupid questions, so she wanted to give up.

Double damn!

True he couldn't answer them, but _still_!

Naruto's eyes narrowed. One of his bunshins, a fox-shaped one, bit her on her ass, causing her to cry out.

"OUCH!" all eyes were turned toward her causing her to swallow, especially when Ibiki was scanning her. The eyes turned toward the scarred examiner.

Sakura turned when she felt someone watching her. Unlike others, it was so intense. She found herself looking at Naruto who was glaring and make a silent motion of slicing his throat. The pink haired girl swallowed and put down her hand.

While all eyes were on Ibiki, waiting for him to say _the word_, Ibiki himself was looking at a glaring Naruto, or more precisely on his unrolled scroll.

**Kick my team out, and I'll charge 1000 percent of the normal price of my goods! And NO new products!** Was the writing written in the scroll. **P.S.** **And I'll take revenge on your squads. And I assure you it _will_ be quite memorable!**

Ibiki sweatdropped when he saw the threat and coughed when he stared back at the other people' eyes. "Anyone else wants to give up?" there were some out cries of rage, yelling why Sakura and her team weren't kicked out. "I said…is there anyone else who wants to surrender?" he growled menacingly. Two more teams gave up and exited the room.

"Well then, congratulation, you all pass!" Ibiki said after no more genin team quitting the exam..

"WHAT!" there were cries of shock, but it was muffled soon when they saw him glare at them. They certainly didn't want to be kicked out after being told they passed.

Temari lifted her hand in question.

"What's it?"

"What do you mean we pass?"

"Just like what I had said. That question was the tenth question. As a shinobi sometimes you have to make a decision whether or not to take a mission which probably will be difficult or hard. Only genins who have the will and potential can be a chuunin. The rest should've stayed as a genin or better yet just retire from shinobi rank. You can't be a shinobi if you're a coward, but then again bravery can be shown in many weird ways."

"Then what about those 9 questions?"

"They can be used as either distraction or they way to see whether you can use your potential or not. The first exam is about information gathering. You can gather information by using your own knowledge, or by tricking others. Of course most of you are using dismal tricks. We noticed many of them, but we only weed out the _worst_ attempts." The genins were looking around them and noted that their numbers were cut down more than half. "Why the worst attempts? You're just genins and obviously we noticed most of your attempts. If we cut all of them down, there won't be a single team here, because we notice the attempt at least one of the members of _all_ teams," he let it sunk to their petty brain.

"For example: Team Neji, Lee, and Tenten of Leaf. The white eyes boy was using his bloodline limit, while the kunoichi was using mirrors with wires, with Lee being helped by her. We notice your _pathetic_ attempt," Tenten clenched her hands, while Lee felt ashamed. The other member of the team was frowning. "But we let it go because you're no chuunin yet. And of course there the matter in which I won't notice the Hyuuga boy used his eyes if I didn't see the vein on his eyes myself. The examiners were afterall alerted and _searching_ for your attempts. And of course we have to understand that not all ninja have stealth needed for reconnaissance mission."

"Another example…Team Temari, Kankurou, and Gaara of Sand. That boy with painted face," Kankurou looked affronted by this. "Was using his…_pet_ (his doll of course, but Ibiki wouldn't say it) to cheat and helped the girl on his team. And while I don't know what technique the red haired kid was using, I felt uneasy and being watched. Not exactly good technique for reconnaissance, because you're supposed to not make your enemies alerted by your presence. Now I don't care if you understand that explanation or not, although I have to say that you've to be dunderhead if you don't know it, so by all means you all can go to where the second exam was held. _After_ the examiner arrive, of course. You can join your teammates or others as long as you're not noisy or I'll kick you out myself," the scarred face man glared sternly.

Teams were grouping while they waited for the second examiner's arrival. It has been 45 minutes but there was no sign of the examiner.

Sakura's eyebrow was twitching. "Do you think that somehow Hokage rope Kakashi to be the 2nd examiner?"

"Hm…there is always that possibility," Sakura groaned when she heard Naruto's impassive reply. Just as he said it, the door of the room was opened by a black haired Leaf kunoichi with indecent clothes who was…eating dango?

"You're late for…47 minutes 23 seconds," Ibiki looked at his watch, but she just waved him off.

"Well I kinda forget about it and I'm hungry and I saw this nice dango restaurant and—"

"Just do your job to scare the rest of the kids," Ibiki muttered.

"—And I don't think I have to hurry it because my dango will fall off," she finished. "So how many teams passed the first exam?"

"Eighteen teams," he said.

"Eighteen? Hm…not bad, but I'll still cut half of their numbers. Ok, you brats, follow me!"

Kids were murmuring what she meant by cutting half of them. Would it be a tournament?

Twenty minutes later they were facing one of the gates of Forest of Death.

"Your second exam is to survive in the woods for 5 days. What you have in your right now will be your weapons. You aren't given time to buy or bring them from other places right now. If you're not prepared, that's your own problem," she grinned. "Forest of Death, just like its name, is full of dangers. I won't tell you the dangers to make it more interesting."

"And to make this exam much more exciting, you have to compete with the other teams. Why? Simple, really. In my hands there are 2 scrolls. Heaven," she lifted a scroll on her right hand. "And Earth," she lifted the other arm. "Each team will be given a scroll, be it Heaven OR Earth. To pass this exam you have to get 2 scrolls: Heaven AND Earth. After you get the scrolls, head to the center of the forest. You'll find a building there. Enter it, show the scrolls, and you'll pass the exam."

"You're allowed to kill in this exam, so if you chickened out and want to back out, that's fine with me. You have to fill these forms. On it, you're agreed that Leaf isn't responsible if you're dead. Your team's name will be called in a moment, and you have to get into that booth," here, she pointed toward a wooden place with closed curtain, "And received your scroll."

"Rule for this exam?" she grinned, seeing their expressions. "One, you are not allowed to open and take a peek of the scroll before you arrive at the tower. Failure to comply…well, you _don't_ want to know what will happen," the combatants were sighing in disappointment, because they were quite curious of the punishment. "Second, you try to survive in the forest on your own. Slacking, and you die. It's that simple," she chuckled when she saw the glares sent on her way. "Three, killing is allowed. Fourth, if any of your companion is disabled, dead or alive, and unable to continue the next test, you're out of the game even if you have the right scrolls with you. Fifth, whether or not you have the scrolls, if you're unable to arrive at the tower before the designated time, you're out of the game too. You can however arrive before the deadline, with the right scrolls of course. Sixth, you're not allowed to go outside this field during this exam. Failure to do so means you forfeit. Now…you already know that the first exam was about information gathering, but for this second exam it will be tracking, hunting, and survival, all in one package. Nice deal, huh?" she smirked. "Good hunting in the forest! Give the forms to the chuunin who will give you the scroll."

"Tracking and hunting, huh?" Kiba swung his dog around. "We'll rule this one!" His team was a tracking team, afterall.

"ARK! ARK!" the puppy barked out in agreement.

"Humph, easy job," Naruto commented and whistled soundlessly. A couple of foxes nearby heard the calling and dashed toward the source. "No _this_ is my forte," the blond smiled wickedly. "Why don't I make this into a more interesting exam?" Sakura saw his expression and was quite glad at the moment to be on his 'side'. This time it wouldn't be her to get pranked. That didn't mean that being his teammate was safe, especially after this exam was over. At least now she had the guarantee that he wouldn't kill her or Sasuke, because he needed them to pass this exam.

And she thanked God for that.

Team 7 was waiting in front of one of the gates of training field 44. The gate was opened by a Konoha shinobi when there was a red signal flare on the sky.

"Good luck," the shinobi said and closed the door once again after they dashed off.

"Which way?" Sakura asked her teammates.

"The tower, of course. Full speed. And I'll do the rest."

"What do you mean? We haven't gotten an Earth scroll," the pink haired kunoichi asked, confused. They only have a heaven scroll in their hold.

"True, but we'll have it soon," he smirked. "Getting a scroll is easy. But I have to make sure the others are…virtually challenged," Sakura groaned although inwardly she was awed when she saw Naruto making 1000 or so bunshins. His foxes also scattered throughout the forest.

"So, we just need to wait?" the girl didn't like the prospect of Naruto doing all the works, while she sat doing nothing.

"That depends on you. If you're hungry, hunt. If you're thirsty, go find a river or something. We'll camp outside the tower," he leapt to another branch. Sakura and Sasuke were following him.

"But she said—"

"We're not going to _enter_ the tower, just outside it, and she sure as hell didn't mention anything about it," the pink haired girl sighed but nodded. "Aren't you going to comment or something, Uchiha? You're too quiet."

"Hmph."

"Suit yourself," a red fox leapt toward Naruto. It followed the jumping blond and yipped. "They've found victims already?" Naruto grinned, before he took a small scroll and threw it to the fox. The animal caught it with its mouth and leapt away. His teammates looked at it curiously.

"What is that scroll?" Naruto gave another scroll to another fox.

The boy only smiled mysteriously. "You'll know it soon. Be happy that you're my comrades that I needed to pass this exam." Ten minutes later as they headed toward the tower, the forest was filled with screams. Sakura gulped and looked around her nervously.

"What is that?" she asked to no one. "Remember the way you scream in team 7's first days (and the days afterwards)?" Sakura's and Sasuke's eyes widened. They both winced when they remembered the memory clearly.

"You didn't—"

"I _did_. Hm?" he sniffed the air. "Someone…or perhaps I should say two people, follow us. They are one of the Mist-nins…and one of the Grass-nins," he had learned the scents of the combatants who passed the first exam. Even with his enhanced senses, Naruto was barely able to hear the Grass-nin's footsteps. He remembered well that he caught the Grass-nin's scent on that gray haired genin who was most likely a spy. At first he thought that the Grass-nin only bumped the What's-His-Name-Again, but now that he thought it the scent was too strong, telling him that the older genin was in the Grass-nin's presence for quite long time. He concluded that the gray haired-nin was a spy from Grass. "Let's just make them kill each other first," with that he speeded up and created more clones, just in case, to distract them.

As he continued his journey, Naruto couldn't wash away the feeling of uneasiness. And for some reason he thought it had something to do with the Grass-nin. He had an instinct that he wasn't ready yet to face that…genin.

Was he really a genin? Naruto cocked his eyebrow in question.

**With Kimimaro**

Kimimaro who was disguised as a Grass-nin dispatched another barrage of kunais with his bones. This was starting to get ridiculous. Five minutes or running and the traps were still continuing. He wondered if this was the examiners' idea of survival test. Hearing the screams throughout the forest confirmed his deduction.

Kimimaro growled.

**With Neji, cs**

"There is a trap 10 meters ahead. Afield circled with explosion notes. We better change our course," there were veins around his eyes, indicating that his byakugan eyes were activated.

"That will take too long! We have to pass through it and show the examiners our fiery youth spirits!" with that Lee dashed toward the trap.

"Lee, it isn't like we have to finish the exam in a day!" Tenten yelled in irritation.

The explosion that followed 2 seconds later resulted in other teams knowing their positions. Lucky for Gai's team that those other teams were busy with their own traps to care.

**With Gaara,cs**

Kankurou and Temari were cautiously following Gaara who was in the lead, setting off all traps on his way. Thankfully for the Shukaku's host, his sand was ready to defend him of anything.

To the fan and puppet users, Gaara was the traps' cleaner. For once they were thankful to have Gaara on their team.

In their mind they cursed the examiners who they thought to be the ones behind the traps. This might be a survival exam, but that didn't mean they could just put up those booby traps in every spot!

**With Ino-Shika-Cho team**

"INO!" Ino's body froze. Her foot was dangling dangerously in the air as Shikamaru stopped her with his shadow.

"What's the big deal?" she asked angrily.

The shadow user only put her 5 meters from her original spot. He took a rock from the ground and threw it to a spot 10 centimeters from her previous spot. A group of sharp wooden stakes was launched toward the spot and another one 5 meters from the spot in a second.

"That's the deal," he pointed at the terrified girl. She was almost being a grilled meat afterall. "It seems that whoever built the trap calculated that we will move from the first spot. That's the use of the second group of stakes. Very clever. Though I'd say that this exam is still too troublesome," he finished.

**With Hinata, cs**

Shino was listening to his bugs' buzzes before he turned to his teammates. "There are some people following us and my bugs said this place reeks of dangers."

"Byakugan," Hinata activated her bloodline. She gasped.

"What is it, Hinata?" Kiba asked her, frowning.

"It-It's like everything around us is a m-mine field. The whole place is l-littered with traps. (AN: I want to know whether Hyuuga can see through the ground) Even the ground we already pass through," she said in a small voice.

"What's that mean?" he asked confused with the last part.

"It means that someone placed the traps after we pass through it," the bug user answered. Hinata nodded nervously and twiddled with her fingers.

Akamaru sniffed the air carefully when the wind blew to team 8's way. The dog growled a little when he smelled the scent. "Ark! Ark! Grr. Ark!"

Kiba's eyes widened incredulously. "You smelled Naruto's scent around us?"

"Ark!"

"No fuckin' way! He's too…he's too dumb to pull this out! You must be wrong, Akamaru!" he argued with his puppy.

"Rrrr, Ark!"

"Fine, I'll show you that you're wrong. If it turns out you're right, I'll spend half of my next month's allowance to buy your treat! But if I'm right, you must not complain when I train you for a month!" Akamaru slapped Kiba's offered hand with a small paw.

There was no way he passed up this rare opportunity of getting good doggy treats.

"If you're quite finished, we still have to think of our escape route," Shino said.

"Er, right!" Kiba scratched his head.

**With Kabuto, cs**

Kabuto fixed his glasses as he stared in annoyance at his supposed comrades. It was the fourth time he healed them after they were being careless and not quick enough to avoid those friggin' traps. If not because he needed them to pass the 2nd exam, he would let them rot.

His investigation didn't include a whole trap field for the exam. Perhaps Konoha was increasing the chuunin's standard condition.

"If you keep this up and hold back the team, I'll make sure you'll be truly disabled after this exam," he threatened venomously. His teammates visibly gulped.

**Back to team 7**

Nearing the tower, Naruto felt his shadow clones were dispatched quicker by that Grass-nin. It was unusual to find someone managed to destroy the teamwork of his shadow clones.

There was no way this man a genin. With his power, he wasn't supposed to stay as a genin.

Looking at his teammates behind him, he could see Sakura was starting to breathe heavily, while Sasuke was winded a little. They had run for twenty minutes, all the while avoiding the beasts inside the forest and took a longer route. Naruto's bunshins cleaned up their way. So far they haven't met with another team yet.

"Uchiha, Haruno, speed it up," Sakura was glaring a hole through his head. It was already her top speed and he wanted her to run quicker? She stopped giving him a glare however when she saw something on his eyes.

Was it just her imagination or was she truly seeing anxiety on his eyes?

She let out a muffled shriek when her body was caught and lifted from the ground. Green eyes stared at a blonde tuft. "What the? Uzumaki, put me DOWN!" she shouted embarrassedly and struggled.

"You're too slow," she blinked when she saw another blond was running ahead. Turning back to the one who hauled her to his back, she found another Naruto. "And for clarification, I'm the real one," the blonde 4 meters ahead spoke. "Keep moving, it won't be long before we reach the tower," Naruto shifted when he felt some of his foxes were coming toward him. The foxes caught up with him. There in their tiny mouths were 1 Heaven and 2 Earth scrolls. "We've gotten our tickets," Sasuke was having hard time to catch him up. H was starting to get irritated by the blond's bossiness, although he didn't speak it out loud.

Naruto relayed the next mission for his clones. They were commanded to retreat and helped him distract the Grass-nin. He could no longer feel the Mist-nin's chakra or smelled his scent. Either the Grass-nin killed him or he couldn't follow them.

He threw exploding notes to the trees while running. He could feel his clones engaged the Grass-nin. With more numbers, the ninja seemed to be having problem.

Naruto wondered why the ninja seemed to be persistent by chasing after his team.

He saw the bright light in the end of the woods. Naruto leapt from the tree and landed on the ground, his bunshin with Sakura, and Sasuke followed his lead. There, stood in the center of forest of death was their destination.

The jinchuuriki snatched the scrolls from the foxes, as he slammed the gate open. The animals trotted back to the forest.

Just as he took a step inside the tower, the forest blew up. No wonder that it was the deed of his exploding notes. He could feel the last of his clones was destroyed. After the explosion he could no longer feel the man's chakra, but that didn't mean he thought he was dead. The Grass-nin could suppressed his chakra afterall and he hadn't felt it one bit.

He created another hundred bunshins to continue sabotaging the other teams and building up the traps around the tower.

His clone had put Sakura down and joined the bunshis' foray. "Let's go."

After a quick reading of the 'Heaven and Earth' thingy, the 4 scrolls started to smoke. Naruto unrolled the scrolls and threw them to the floor. Two burst of smoke and they found themselves staring at two confused jounins.

"What the?" both jounins looked at them in shock and then one of them checked up his watch.

"..." the jounins looked at each other questioningly. They have never thought that someone would be able to gather the right scrolls and arrived at the tower in such short time, not to mention that the team had 4 scrolls instead of the intended 2.

"You…pass the second exam," one of them managed to say. "You can rest here until the exam is finished. Food and rooms will be provided for you," Naruto separated himself after the explanation. Sasuke went toward the opposite direction, while Sakura stayed on her spot, not knowing what she should do.

"Uh…where can I find my room?" she asked them.

"I'll escort you," the other ninja said. "Follow me," casting a glance at her retreating teammates, Sakura sighed and followed the Leaf jounin. The other one went in a poof of smoke to report it to Anko.

At least her team passed the 2nd exam without a hitch.

Outside the tower Orochimaru who was still disguised as a Grass-nin, although his clothes was singed by the big explosion that would no doubt attracting the Leaf shinobis' attentions, was seething. This wasn't on his plan. That blonde teammate of Sasuke proved to be a nuisance with his clones and traps.

His snakey eyes narrowed.

He had failed this time, but he still had many other opportunities. The chuunin exam wasn't finished yet.

With that, Orochimaru turned around and walked away from the tower.

TBC…

Very different from the real story, because this time team 7 doesn't engage Orochimaru (at least not directly, cuz he was fighting Naruto's clones).

Orochimaru won't be able to enter the preliminary, however, because the leaf found the real Grass team's bodies. He still goes there as a Sound jounin.

Do not forget to send me your review.


	19. Part Nineteen

Author's Note: For my question in chapter 18 about whether byakugan could see through the ground, someone answered that it couldn't, but another said the other way. Well, I'll just take the first one (it couldn't see through ground) based off the manga/anime in which Naruto managed to trick Neji by staying underneath the soil.

At last I have the determination to move my writing from the papers to computer.

And there are some actions here. Hope you'll like it If not, that's your own problem. He3x

**Part Nineteen**

"Ma'am, there's a group that has already reached the tower," a chuunin informed his black haired superior with a troubled look.

Anko looked up from her dango on her hand, quite disbelieving to hear the news. "What?' she turned around, eyes narrowed. The chuunin blushed when he saw her indecent clothes, but she didn't seem to care about it, or if she did, she didn't show it. "What do you mean?" she barked out and commanded another chuunin that was in charge of the security camera to show her the display of the cameras on the tower.

"That one," the first chuunin pointed out at the screen. "Camera 23," he said. It showed them each member of team 7 went to separate direction in which only the female member followed a jounin.

One of the jounins that were summoned by Team 7 popped in the room. "Anko-san, a group has reached the tower," he informed.

Orochimaru's former apprentice turned and nodded. "Yes, I already know of that," she pointed at the screen.

"Then you already know they summoned Kaji and I," he stated.

"Yes, I kno—wait, what did you say?" she stared at the black haired shinobi.

"That the group summoned both Kaji and I?" he asked hesitantly. The shinobis on the room looked at each other.

"You mean that they-" she pointed at the screen. "-summoned _both_ of you?"

"…Yes."

"But that mean—" a chunin started.

"—that they have 2 scrolls each for Heaven and Earth," another one cut off. The jounin nodded.

A shinobi in the corner whistled. "That would be a record time," he commented.

"How were they able to retrieve TWO pairs of scrolls and arrive here in such short time?" she demanded.

"Unknown, ma'am. We didn't install any security camera in the forest, but we did hear explosions and screams from the forest not long ago."

"Are you implying that this team had something to do with it?" she asked, narrowing his eyes.

The jounin shrugged. "At this point of time, we're unable to confirm or deny it, but we plan to inves—"

"ANKO-SAN!" a chuunin slammed the door open, running with all his might. His face was grim and uneasy, telling her that whatever he had found was bad. "We found 3 corpses of Grass genins outside the village with their face's skin peeled off."

The black haired kunoichi looked up with a frown. All thought concerning team 7 vanished, replaced by the incident. "Escort me there," she commanded.

**At the scene**

Anko touched the lifeless body's scrapped face. It seemed as if their skins were completely ripped off of their faces. 'This jutsu…' Anko frowned.

"It seemed that they have died days ago," one of the lead ninjas covered his nose to block the smell of the rotten flesh with disgust.

"If they had died days ago, then who are _they_?" the others didn't need to ask him who_ they_ were, as they had already known about _them_.

"Intrudes, saboteurs…the list is endless," another answered.

"Orochimaru," their black haired leader clutched her palms tightly. "I know this jutsu. It's his. Report back to sandaime, I'll hunt him down."

"What? But Anko-san—"

"DO IT _NOW_!" she barked out her order. The ninjas looked at each other and nodded, before they vanished from her sight.

"Orochimaru," she growled out in hate.

**Back to Naruto**

Naruto closed his eyes. Images continued to flow from his foxes that had accompanied his shadow clones. He (or rather his clones) had destroyed some scrolls. One of them was team 10's scroll. Naruto smirked when he remembered it. This particular genin team didn't really have anything special within them.

True, Ino's family's jutsu was interesting but she was too slow, so her technique wasn't much of use for real fight. Chouji wasn't really good at anything aside from eating and Shikamaru's shadow jutsu wasn't exactly useful for fighting against enemies that were coming from different directions. The pineapple haired style boy was too lazy to train his technique and unfortunately for him, his supposedly superior intelligence couldn't help him much here. Uzumaki Naruto was unpredictable. And the worst opponent you could have was an unpredictable one.

**Flashback**

"Shikamaru, how can we escape this mine field?" Ino gulped as she asked her genius teammate. The genin sat and closed his eyes.

"Chouji," he opened his eyes and looked at his fat friend, not that he would say it out loud in front of the plump genin. "I want you to use your rolling tank jutsu and clear our path."

"WHAT?" Ino shouted in disbelief. "Are you out of your mind?"

"This is our only chance, or have you forgotten about what had happened earlier?" he scowled. "We used stones and threw them to clear the traps and we thought that it was safe. We didn't think there would be traps that could only be triggered by specific weight. Small stones didn't work and do you see any big stones around us?" he challenged. "With his jutsu, Chouji is safe. He can deflect arrows or shurikens or kunais."

"But what about explosive?" she replied scathingly. "So far, we had seen easy traps that we can easily dispose, but after that…" she drawled. "It was as if whoever built the traps is testing us."

Shikamaru realized that she was right. There are flaws on his plan. Nonetheless it was their best chance.

"Chouji…do you think you're up to it?"

"SHIKAMARU!" Ino cried in disbelief.

Chouji stopped eating and looked at his best friend with a serious look. "As long as I make sure I move fast enough," he finally answered.

"CHOUJI!"

"Good. Then let's do this," Ino was on the verge of crying.

"I don't want this. Why can't we just give up?" she asked hoarsely. She didn't want to see her teammates died because of some stupid exam.

"Because we're shinobi. That's why," Shikamaru said.

"Don't make me laugh! You feel that being shinobi is too troublesome. What changes your mind?"

"Nothing. I still think it's too troublesome," he said without looking at her. Shikamaru nodded at an unsure Chouji who looked back and forth between them.

None of team 10 members noticed the fox crouching behind a tree nearby. Its eyes glowed in the darkness of the shadow.

"Rolling tank, huh?" a naruto clone watched as his traps were set off by Chouji. "A tank indeed," he gave a hand sign to order the 5 other clones to attack them directly. He didn't want to build stronger traps, as he had no doubt they wouldn't be able to come out of them alive. Sandaime would kill his ears off with his incessant yelling, if he ever killed a fellow Leaf-nin. The clone snorted and raced toward team 10.

Ino and Shikamaru were running, following the Akimichi boy from safe distance. "…It's fortunate that there isn't any explosive trap around. But I'm still stay true to my belief. I don't want to sacrifice our lives for a mere exam. Do you understand me, Shikamaru?" she said in anger.

The boy sighed. "I understand," he didn't want to anger her further. It was too troublesome. "Ino," the girl looked at him. "You said that it seemed like whoever built these traps were testing us, right?" she nodded confusedly. "If what you thought is right, who do you think want to test us?"

"…The examiners?" he nodded.

"Perhaps to see whether we're worthy or not to become a chuunin," the lazy genin sighed. "It's too damn troublesome." Both genins looked up when they heard Chouji's alarmed cry.

"CHOUJI!" they sped up. When they stopped running, they saw Chouji was unable to move as his body was trapped by steel nets. The two quickly rushed to his side. "Are you okay?"

The fat genin coughed. "I think so. Help me, please?"

"Alright, hold on," Ino reached for her kunai. Shikamaru caught her wrist and shook his head. "What're you doing?" she demanded.

"It's _steel_ net," he reminded her. "We just have to let out Chouji from belo—" Shikamaru leapt away and brought Ino with him. A barrage of kunai pierced the ground they were standing on a second ago.

"Did we set off a trap?" the blonde girl voiced her question.

Shikamaru shook his head. "No, there is someone attacking us."

The blonde girl gasped. "Another team?"

"Or an examiner."

"Uh, guys?" Chouji called. "There is someone behing you," he said with a small voice.

A shadow dropped between them and kicked Shikamaru in the shin and threw Ino right in front of her trapped teammate. The kunoichi stumbled and winced when she sprained her ankle. When she looked up she was surprised to see a fellow blonde Leaf-nin. "Naruto?" she growled. "Shintenshi—" a hand grabbed her neck from behind, followed by a kunai on her throat. "Cho-Chouji! What're you doing?" she stammered in shock.

The Akimichi boy replied. "Unfortunately, I'm not your dear friend, Chouji," the voice that came out of Chouji's mouth wasn't his. "Don't worry, you'll soon follow his fate," images of Chouji being killed flooded her mind. She didn't want to die! With a chop to her temple, she dropped to the ground unconscious.

'Chouji' freed himself from the steel net quite easily. A kunai whizzed past his face. "You're not Chouji."

The figure that resembled the fat boy laughed. "Isn't it obvious already? A simple henge and both of you are easily fooled. You Leaf-nins are _so_ stupid," the Chouji look-alike laughed mockingly.

'Leaf-nins? Does that mean he isn't Leaf-nin? Then why use Naruto's form? Oh, I see. A distraction." Shikamaru looked up. "What do you want?" He asked, the gears on his mind were moving.

Both of his opponents snorted. "What kind of question is that?"

"A stalling question," Shikamaru smirked as he watched them unable to move. "Kage mane no jutsu, success."

"Oh?" Naruto arched his eyebrow. "So, you're one of those shadow users. Nara family, I presume," he said offhandedly, as if he didn't have a care of being held by his opponent's shadow. His eyebrow arched further when his and his comrade's hands reached for their kunais and threw them toward Shikamaru, or more precisely on the figure creeping toward the lazy genin.

"If you think I forget about your teammate for a second, then you're wrong," Shikamaru smirked, though inwardly he was shaken up by his first kill, but he knew he had to save his teammates. Now the problem was to make them wake up before he was depleted of chakra and freed the ninjas. The other ninjas didn't seem to be bothered by the death of their teammate in the slightest. To his surprise, Shikamaru found the dead ninja's body burst into smoke.

He froze and his eyes widened when he felt someone whispering near his ear and a hand covered his mouth. "And if you think you can outsmart me, you're quite mistaken,' the man behind him injected a clear blue liquid via syringe into his neck. Shikamaru's eyes started to drop before darkness overtook him.

'I'm sorry, guys. I had failed,' was the last thing the lazy genin able to think.

"Well, that was fun," 'Chouji' reverted back to his Naruto clone's form. The other clones nodded with a smirk.

"It sure was," another said triumphantly when he discovered the scroll and burned it.

"Ok, so how many teams still survive the test till now?" 2 other clones landed on the ground, followed by a young black fox.

"Um, let's see…" a clone took out a paper and scratched team 10's name on it. "Team 8, Gai's dream team, Ichibi's team, that suspicious Yakushi fellow's team, that creepy grass genin's team, the Sound team, a rain team, and another Leaf team."

"We're so _not_ going against that weird (not to mention, creepy) Grass genin's team. And uh…do you guys think we're hallucinating or something? Because the destroyed clones kept telling me they were being ass handled by a freaky bone manipulator, who seemed to be the teammate of that weird ass."

"Huh? I thought that bone user is from a rebelling clan from the _Mist_, not Grass," another clone looked at his comrades. "And that clan was said to be eliminated by the Mist's army."

"A deserter?"

"Probably."

"Oh, well. So that Grass team is out of question. What about the other rookie genin team?"

"The one with those Inuzuka, Aburame, and Hyuuga as members?" the others nodded. "Because Shino is an aburame, we've got to do something to his bugs that are potentially dangerous for us, clones," because the clones relied on the given chakra they had to stay in real world, "Uh, and can someone tie them down?" he indicated to the knocked out members of team 10. "And shove them somewhere else?" a clone volunteered. "Thank you. Where are we again?"

"We need to handle the bugs."

"Ah yes, that. I think we've stored a super insecticide on the scroll, but it will be difficult because of the others' ability. They have the sight and smell. What can we do to trick them? Anyone?"

"Set an explosion trap and blow them to Kingdom's come!" one of the clones suggested energetically. "Imagine the blood, gore, flesh parts, bleeding limbs!" he laughed maniacally.

"…" the other clones looked at one of them who suggested the idea in silence. Even the fox was staring at the laughing clone. "He must be one of those defect products. Put him out of commotion," 2 seconds later the faulty clone poofed out under the other clones' assault.

"Perhaps we can use metana and roast the bugs. That Hyuuga girl won't be able to see the gas."

"But Inuzuka will smell the gas," another interjected, as the clone who had volunteered to take care of team 10 had come back. "Not to mention the chance of team 8 are roasted along with the bugs are high."

"Just want to remind you that our mission is to take them out of competition, not to bet them down. We can just set traps to separate them and pick the scroll from whoever gets his hand on the scroll," the one who had just arrived told them. "And get the hell out of there," he added.

The others blinked. "Now, why didn't we think of it sooner?" they shrugged. "Ok, so what about the other teams?"

"Boss/oyabun (the real Naruto) wanted to deal with Ichibi himself, not to mention that his team will arrive at the tower soon despite our traps and they already have the second scroll anyway."

"Gai's team?"

"Bos, hadn't had the chance to play with the Hyuuga boy since Wave mission."

"But that doesn't mean we can't test his team," another said wickedly. "Just take out the Sound, rain, and the last Leaf team then. Who are they, anyway?" he asked about the members of the Leaf genin team.

"Nobody of importance. And also take out that insufferable glassed smiling git too. He's so annoying. His fake smile and his talk."

"And he's suspicious," another one said.

"He's suspicious or not isn't our business. That's Leaf's," a clone reminded the others sarcastically. "But I agree that he's definitely an annoying son of a bitch."

"Ok, so that leaves…boss' team, Ichibi's team, the Grass team, and Gai's team to pass the second exam. I'd like to say to weed the others, but unfortunately we can't do that because Gai's team doesn't have the scroll yet," they sighed. "Let's just throw out all other Leaf teams. Riku, ask the boss for more ammunition, please," he told the yipping fox who quickly scrambled toward the tower. "Ok, let's move out!" all remaining Naruto clones disappeared out of sight.

**End Flashback**

When the second team was over, there were only 3 more teams that passed it. Team 7, Gai's team, Gaara's team, and surprise, surprise a crippled Kabuto's team who was currently glaring daggers at the yawning blonde boy (hey, Orochimaru wouldn't show his tail, and had given Kabuto his scroll, which fortunately for the glassed boy was the opposite of his scroll). Sasuke ans Sakura stole a glance at the growling team and understood what had happened to them.

"Is there something wrong?" the ninetails vessel asked them, earning him a louder growl. Naruto whistled cheerfully with a foxy grin. "Hey, where's the creepy Grass team? I thought with their skill they'd be able to pass the exam," he noticed Kabuto shifted on his spot, even though the question wasn't directed at him. Now that he mentioned it…this Kabuto fellow's smell…there was the creepy nin's smell on him, quite recently, he might add. But why wasn't he died?

Sandaime looked at Hayate, the one who would be the examiner this time. "Only 4 teams?" Hayate nodded. "What about the others?"

"either dead or (cough) incapacitated in the infirmary," the examiner coughed again. "Some (cough) genin were demanding us to tell them why we set up so many traps in the forest when it's supposed to be an exam without non-genin's interference."

"Traps? But we didn't set any trap, or did we?" the Third frowned.

"We had told them that (cough) but they didn't believe (cough) us, claiming that there were too many traps in the start of the exam to believe it was other teams' attempts. I believe you already know the real culprit (cough) though."

"…Naruto?" Hayate nodded and coughed again. Sandaime turned at Naruto who gave him a cheeky wink. The Konoha leader sighed in exasperation.

"Why did he (cough) weed the others (cough) when—as far as I know—he wanted nothing to do with being a Leaf-nin?"

Sandaime fidgeted. "Em…that's probably because I promised him that if he could complete this exam, chuunin or not, I'd give him permission to wander out of Konoha on his own, like the sannin do."

"Is it (cough) temporary?"

The Third shook his head. "No. A permanent one. Basically I gave him a free reign to exit Konoha whenever he felt like it."

The sickly man snorted. "It's no wonder that he was motivated enough to take them out to (cough) reduce competitions."

"…I suppose. Let's just start the preliminary!" Hayate nodded and went to the arena below.

"Alright, listen up!" Hayate shouted loudly to gain attention, before he went into another coughing fit. The genins sweatdropped. "Because there are still (Cough) too many of you to enter the last exam (cough), the tournament, there will be (cough) a preliminary right now. This time you won't need (cough) your team to pass. It will be your own individual strength that will help you to pass. Since it's allowed to kill here, if there's anyone who wants to resign, you should do it now," he looked around him, but no one raised his/her hand. "No one?" he asked for confirmation.

Kabuto gave a meaningful glance at the sound jounin instructor (A.K.A Orochimaru-yaro). The snake man smirked and shook his head, telling him that he should continue the exam. Kabuto nodded in understanding, knowing that he was still needed to keep an eye on Sasuke's team. Beside, he had a score to settle with Sasuke's blonde teammate, for his goddamn vile traps.

One of Kabuto's teammate raised his left hand. His right hand was bandaged heavily and so was with hi face, though it wasn't for fashion sense (if it was, it would be the worst fashion sense he had) but necessity. The young genins (and some Leaf jounins) sweatdropped at the sight of what could be described as 'half-mummy'.

"I quit! I don't think I can continue with my current condition…" yes, everyone could see why he thought he wasn't fit enough to continue. The referee nodded and with that the so-called Leaf-nin headed to the infirmary to get his wounds treated.

"Anyone else?" he asked (and coughed again). No one raised hand. "Then the preliminary will be started, but before that is tere any question?"

Tenten raised her hand. "Just one. The number of the participants isn't even (there's 11 participants), what will happen then?"

"The preliminary is a match between 2 genins and indeed the number isn't even. One of you will have the chance to pass the exam without fighting." There were cries of complaints from the genins. "The names of the duelers will be determined by computer randomly," the explanation was greeted by growls, but they no longer shouting outright. After looking at the disgruntled genins, Hayate nodded at the leader of Konoha. "Then let the match begins!" The ninjas immediately went to the balcony and let Hayate, as referee, stood alone on the duel arena.

A panel above the statue inside the tower opened to reveal a blank screen. The computer started to pick up 2 names randomly. The screen flashed the genins' names for a moment before stopping. "First match: Akado Yoroi Vs. Tenten," Lee immediately cheered for his female teammate.

The match was a short one. Yoroi even with all his chakra draining ability was unfortunate to have the weapon mistress, who was a log-ranged attacker (though she could be a short ranger attacker too) as an opponent. He couldn't get close enough to her to use his ability and Tenten easily won the match.

"Winner, Tenten," Hayate declared, earning him a loud cheer from Konoha's Green Beast junior. The computer picked 2 other names. "Second match: Haruno Sakura Vs. Kankurou." It was needless to say that Kankurou 'slaughtered' Sakura. With her lack of training (despite her determination) and lack of attention from his sensei, she was easily defeated. Her bunshin could only help her for a few minutes, before gaara's big brother caught up with her tactic and rendered her unconscious with a quick blow to her stomach. Kankurou didn't even need to use his doll against her. It was fortunate that Kankurou was more tolerant toward woman or he'd kill the pink haired girl.

"Winner: kankurou. Next match: Temari Vs. Uchiha Sasuke."

"Two of your team members fought against the sand team. Who do you think will win this time?" Gai grinned as he asked his so-called eternal rival.

"Hm? You're saying something?" Gai cried out in outrage.

Temari jumped and landed on the duel field, followed closely by her black haired opponent. The blonde girl unfastened her weapon from her body and brought it down to the floor. She wasn't going to take chance against the Uchiha genius.

Sasuke was left on his spot wondering just what kind of weapon she used. Judging from the clanging sound and the small crater it created, the weapon was made of metal. Both genins were staring at each other without a twitch. It seemed that the kunoichi was getting impatient, as she spread her weapon to reveal a huge steel fan, and attacked Sasuke with a wave of her weapon.

Sasuke brought his hand to cover his face, as the wind tried to blast him off. He focused his chakra on his feet and latched to the floor to avoid being blown away like a rag doll. Deciding to test her at first, Sasuke dashed toward her and showered the older girl with kunais, but she merely knocked them off course with her wind. He attempted to get close to her to engage her in taijutsu battle, but she kept trying to blow him with her wind attack.

Sasuke knew that he could use battle of attrition here to win, but he didn't want that kind of winning. After being shadowed by Naruto's strength, he wanted to have a break and actually won by himself for once. He analyzed that she was relying too much on her fan and wind attack and so far there was no variation of her attack at all. But being a teammate of Naruto taught him to expect the worst. The blonde teammate of his always surprised him (and irritated him so much he wanted to kill the blond on his sleep) with his unsuspected traps (it was no longer unsuspected anymore as it was daily occurrence, but he still was picked on by the traps). Sasuke knew that he couldn't gauge his opponent's skill just by watching/fighting her for a few minutes. An idea was soon formed on his mind. It was risky, but it was his best shot for now.

He threw 5 smoke bombs to the floor to create a thick layer of smoke. The black haired boy coughed as he himself inhaled the smoke. Ok…perhaps it wasn't a good idea to use 5 smoke bombs at the same time without mask on.

"A layer of smoke?" Is that the best thing, you Leaf genin, can offer me?" Temari taunted. "I can easily blast it off."

"Then, why don't you?" Sasuke's voice echoed on the field. Temari narrowed her eyes, wondering if it was a trap.

A kunai was thrown through the smoke. Temari knocked it off with her closed fan. The weapon landed 2 meter on her right. She waited for a minute, searching for him, and got fed up when he didn't use the opportunity to attack her. She flicked open her fan and sent a blowing wind. Blown by the harsh wind, the smoke quickly dissipated to reveal 3 Sasukes.

"Bunshin, huh? But it's not going to help you out. Eat this! Kamaitachi!" 5 wind blades were created and destroyed 2 Sasukes, while another avoided it by jumping to the air. There were gash marks on the wall behind him, courtesy of the wind attack. The girl panted a little. "Found you!" she created a tornado toward him, forcing her opponent to jump away. "Come to momma!" a few ninjas raised their eyebrows at the wording. She directed a whole squad of wind blades toward the spot she calculated to be his landing spot. Just as the wind attack pierced him, causing a great joy to the kunoichi who thought that she had killed Konoha's prodigy, a sign that she was stronger than him, she heard a poofing sound from beside her. Before she could react, there was already a kunai pressed on her throat. The pierced Sasuke disappeared into thin air and the wind blade went through his body.

The one she thought as the real Uchiha was actually another bunshin! The real one waited for the perfect moment to strike, disguised as the kunai she had blocked.

"Surrender, now!" Sasuke commanded. With kunai pressed on her throat, Temari had no choice, but to give up, knowing that she underestimated the younger genin and paid for it. It was lucky that it wasn't a real fight.

"Winner of the match: Uchiha Sasuke!"

When Temari was back to where her team was waiting, she glared at her younger brother, who was in the process of opening his mouth. Kankurou immediately closed his mouth. Baki looked at her and nodded, before looking back at the screen, as if he didn't expect her to win against the Uchiha boy. The blonde girl scowled, but froze when she saw her youngest brother's face. There was only one emotion crossed his face and she knew it really well: bloodlust. The read head's eyes were following every movement of the Uchiha heir. Temari shuddered and looked away, glad not to be on the receiving end of his bloodlust.

"Next match: Hyuuga Neji Vs. Uzumaki Naruto!" Naruto raised his eyebrow, before he smirked mockingly at Lee's teammate. Neji was glaring at him, remembering that Naruto had hurt Lee in Wave mission, even if it was during duel practice.

Naruto, however, was feeling lucky. Because he had a chance to beat the arrogant ass down (he didn't think of himself as arrogant), so he didn't need to wait to fight him in the final match (provided Neji passed)

Both participants jumped from the balcony and landed on the arena at the same time. Pupiless eyes promising revenge, while clear blue eyes promising excitation.

TBC…

Okay…I was having trouble with the 5 last participants: Naruto, Neji, Kabuto, Lee, Gaara on who fight who. If I don't like it (Neji-Naruto) I'll change it later when part 20 is uploaded.

Why didn't Sasuke just use his katon jutsu? He was fighting fuuton jutsu, so he had to be careful when he used it so it wouldn't backfired later.

Eh, and don't forget to send me reviews! (Need I to remind you this again? Somehow, I don't think so)


	20. Part Twenty

Author's Note: I have a difficulty writing this chapter. For some reason I got a writer's block on how to write a nice action chapter. What I should do with Naruto's fight against Neji, without making Naruto looks like a complete jerk. On the other hand I also had to choose who against who, among Lee, Kabuto, and Gaara, and how the fight will proceed.

**Part Twenty**

"You will not win! Fate decrees so!" said Neji.

"There is no such thing as Fate. Fate is only created by people who have weak will. Those who can't think on their own feet," Naruto smirked. "Those who put the blame of everything on something that does not exist, so they won't feel guilty."

"KISAMA!!" Neji dashed toward him in rage, but Hayate stopped him.

"I haven't even said 'begin' yet," he said calmly to the glowering Hyuuga.

"Impatient much, aren't you? Tut, tut, temper, temper!" Naruto's teammates sighed. Trust Naruto to provoke his opponent.

"HAJIME!" this time Neji chose to not attack him head on. He knew that Naruto was goading him. He had seen how Naruto toyed with Lee before he disabled him with that weird dangerous genjutsu. Lee was still having nightmares about it. The blond had many tricks on his sleeve and it wouldn't do to fall on those tricks.

"What's the matter? You told me that by The Fate, you'd win. Why did you stop? Or is that because you are…afraid?" Naruto suggested.

Neji gritted his teeth. "I will fall to no such trick!"

Naruto chuckled as he circled the long black haired boy. "Then show me your worth. Show me the power you Hyuugas were proud off," he grinned predatorily, before he suddenly stiffened, earning him confused glances. He sniffed the air and looked, watching a jounin with Sound hitae-ate. Naruto narrowed his eyes. He hadn't felt him after the race in the 2nd exam. The man must be able to suppress his chakra to hide himself, although it somehow leaked out when the serpentine eyed man was watching his match with glinting eyes.

"Who're you looking at, Uzumaki? Your opponent is here!"

"Just someone who isn't supposed to be here," he glared at Orochimaru, not glancing at Neji when he said it. Naruto snapped out of his mind. If he won this match, the ticket of his freedom would be on his hand. The only thing he should do was to complete the exam. He sure as hell didn't want this snake to ruin his chance by taking his attention when he was fighting. He turned to Neji. "I apologize. There is a small distraction. Let's finish this!"

"GO, NEJI!" Lee cheered up from the balcony. Tenten was giving her teammate a thumb's up.

"I'll defeat you," Neji took a stance.

"What makes you think you can defeat me?" Naruto took his kunai and used his red fire to envelope it, lighting it like a torch. There were some gasps from the audience. "Remember when I told you that my ability would be able to counter your bloodline, Hyuuga? Well perhaps not your bloodline, but your famed family technique to disable your opponent." Naruto had told Neji when the older boy confronted him after he put the genjutsu on Lee on their match in Wave.

"You're just bluffing," he scoffed, while watching the fire engulfing the sword and Naruto's right hand warily. The blonde boy didn't seem affected by the crackling fire on his hand. He would have thought it to be an illusion for the boy didn't use handseal to create the fire, but the heat coming out of the kunai scratched the idea. He knew that people could enhance his weapon with chakra, but pure element? Unless it was this ability he was talking about. Frankly he didn't see anything special from it to be able to counter his technique, unless he knew where Neji would strike.

"Am I? I admit your technique will work on most people, but I'm not one of those most people." Neji watched wide eyed with his byakugan when more chakra started to pour out of his tenketsu holes. There was a chakra build up on Naruto's body and he felt the steady rise, informing him that it was controlled. A stream of red chakra overflowed the holes, engulfing the blonde's body like a cocoon, making his chakra available to be seen by normal eyes. Naruto smirked and grinned maliciously, releasing part of his killing intent to the air. He smiled cheekily at Sandaime's grim look, telling him that he would follow their agreement, but that didn't mean he wouldn't toy with him. He turned back to Neji who seemed to be shaken up. "Oh, and by the way when I was talking about countering your technique, I didn't mean about my fire ability," Naruto said, seemingly able to read Neji's thought.

With that Naruto made the first move. He disappeared only to reappear in front of Neji 10 meters from his spot, and slashed his burning kunai downward. The black haired Hyuuga quickly took out his kunai and held back the kunai from cutting his body. Naruto's body was still in the air as he pressed his body's weight on his kunai, causing Neji to grit his teeth, because Naruto was using Neji to balance himself in the air. Worse thing, he was feeling the heat of the flaming kunai. The Hyuuga gathered his power and deflected Naruto's kunai, forcing Naruto to flip back and landed 3 meters in front of him. The blonde boy didn't seem to be irritated. If anything he was smirking.

Temari and Kankurou were shifting uneasily on their feet. That blonde boy down there had the same feeling as Gaara and his chakra felt as malicious too. Could it be that Konoha had their own monster too? They turned to their brother and noticed his bloodthirsty look, as he stared at the duel below.

"Uzumaki Naruto, your blood will prove my existence," he stated with a crazed look. His big brother and sister gulped and took a step back. This was not good at all.

Naruto smirked as he dashed at his opponent. "Challenge is accepted, vessel of Ichibi," he said to himself, seeming to hear what Gaara had just stated.

Hinata's cousin was considering his next move. If it was a normal kunai he'd be able to do his usual kaiten to deflect the weapon and then proceeded to use his 64 hands technique. The fact that his opponent was using a burning kunai meant that he had to use kaiten faster, so he wouldn't be hurt by the flame or enveloping chakra on his hand to take care of it. It seemed that the match wouldn't be as easy as he first thought. He either needed to end this quickly to avoid being exposed to the flame for long or to wait his opponent got chakra exhaustion. He was sure that the flame needed much chakra consumption.

Neji shook his head. No, he wouldn't wait. He wanted it to be a spectacular battle, not an attrition battle, in which he would show that bastard who was the boss. Fate had decreed that he would win, and thus he would face this battle bravely. If his tenketsu closing technique wouldn't work like the boy had said then he would destroy this nuisance's innard to make sure he wouldn't be able to become a ninja anymore.

Neji focused his chakra on the tip of his opened palm, creating a small blade of focused chakra.

"This will be your end, Uzumaki Naruto," the Hyuuga genius stated.

Naruto simply smirked. "Prove it then, Hyuuga-boy," he swung his kunai and let the red flame raced toward his byakugan-user opponent. Neji's eyes widened a fraction, as he dodged. He didn't calculate that he was able to throw flame too. That meant that Naruto wasn't just a short-ranged attacker, while he was one.

The flame passed by the Suna's siblings on the balcony who felt like they were back on the desert. Kankurou took a glance at his younger brother and noticed the crazy look plaster on his face.

"Kill, kill, kill, KILL!" a couple of ninjas were looking at his brother as if he should be sent to mental asylum, which he agreed with. The puppet user gulped and stepped closer to his sister for reassurance.

"I really hope he's not loosing control right now or we'll be in trouble if the plan is screwed before we even start it," Temari grimaced.

"That boy is another monster like Gaara," Kankurou said in tremble.

"No need to tell me about that," she scowled. "He doesn't seem to be as bloodthirsty as our brother though," Naruto was smirking maliciously. "…Nevermind. But at least he seemed to be able to control it."

"Better suppression you mean. If he's truly another demon vessel like Gaara, there is no way he's able to control his demon. The only thing he can do is to suppress it. And when they blow up in madness, it's not good to be around them, lest we become their victims."

"Let's not think about them blowing up, okay? I don't feel good imagining that, especially when we're here with them right now," her brother nodded in agreement and turned to watched the fight once again.

"…You know, if he's truly a demon vessel and he's Leaf-nin, he can endanger our plan," Kankurou whispered.

"…Yes. But until we receive new order, we'll stay quiet and just observe," his sister said. "Baki-sensei will tell us what we should do later."

Down in the dueling field, the fight was still ensuing. "You know nothing about me!" The Hyuuga shouted.

"Well, I don't want to know anything about you," Naruto quipped with a sly smirk. "Beside, shouldn't we, oh I don't know, fighting instead of exchanging life story?"

Ignoring his bait, Neji continued on. "You know nothing about suffering!"

Naruto yawned, as he sent a fireball against Neji who dodged it. The searing flame was still able to singe his clothes though. "Oh come on, not the angsty-ridden talk. And what do you mean I don't know about suffering?" Naruto was starting to get annoyed at the accusation. Perhaps he should finish the older boy sooner, but hearing him talking like the world revolved around him was so funny that he couldn't help but prolonging their battle. "My life is more angsty than you, but you don't see me complaining or brooding."

"That's because you channeled your brooding by pranking others and annoying them," Sasuke mumbled under his breath. Sakura and even Kakashi nodded in agreement.

Below in the arena Naruto rolled his eyes, hearing Sasuke's whisper. At least his way was better than his whole my-life-is-a-crap-and-I'll-get-revenge-by-any-means-possible kind of brood that the Uchiha had taken as a mantle.

"You can't have a worse life than me!" Neji shouted.

"Uh huh. Care to bet?" Neji blabbed about the death of his father to save Hinata's father, his duty as a branch member and the cursed seal he got. "Hum let's see…well I'm an orphan and am actually hated by most people in this village, not that I care much about them or their feelings, they can go to hell for all I care. And the worst thing? It was because of my father it happened. And I was just a newborn too! Could you believe him? Thank heaven he was already dead or I'll be the one to do the deed of sending him to hell. And seal? Well I have a seal too! And what do you know? It's a cursed seal too! Placed by my own father no less. Although the seal could be counted as blessing under disguise. It kinda helped me actually."

Sasuke and Sakura were even more confused of Naruto after he said that. And Neji didn't seem to believe his story. Many others were wondering who his father was. The Leaf jounins knew that the only one who matched his description was the Fourth who sealed Kyuubi inside him. Could it be that he was yondaime's son? But there was no mention about him having a girlfriend or anything. The jounins turned to sandaime who had a serious look on his face. They also noticed that Kakashi was frowning with a knowing look plastered on his face. They turned back to Naruto and checked him. Blonde hair? Check. Blue eyes? Check. Spiky hair? Check. Now that they were truly observing him, he did resemble the Fourth.

Orochimaru also had reached the same conclusion. He was gripping the handrail tightly. How he hated Jiraiya's student who stole the Hokage title from under his nose. Kabuto was having a thoughtful face on his observing place.

"Hm…the one whose life is similar to mine would be him," he pointed to Gaara. "Though thankfully I don't turn out like him. Sure killings are fun and all, but hatred? Nah, that's just too tiring and troublesome. Why start to hate when you can get them annoyed to the ninth hell?" he added cheekily. His teammates and jounin instructor sighed, along with sandaime and others who had known that Naruto was the mysterious prankster (all whom had tasted his pranks more than once). "Beside, hacking people to pieces is unbelievably easy. Now…making their lives hell on the other hand, need more careful planning, wits, and creativity! Bwa ha ha ha ha," Naruto cackled evilly, causing others to sweatdrop and reconsider his sanity. "Rather than being a brooding avenger I prefer to be a trickster."

Sasuke was seriously considering about what Naruto had said. It was true. Although killing Itachi would prove difficult, making his life hell where he would have to tear his hair out and let out a scream was definitely more difficult. But that was the challenge. It would be more satisfying if he succeeded. He'd like to see the day when Itachi was cursing his decision to let him live.

As fast as he had the idea, he squashed and buried it deep.

What was he thinking? A trickster? His family would roll their eyes on their graves. He was spending too much time with Naruto for even considering such act! Kakashi and Sakura stared at him as he waved his hand frantically to shoo the invisible thought out of his mind.

"I think we've talked too much, don't you think so? Kage bunshin no jutsu," five clones appeared and circled Neji. Every clone took out his kunai before red fire enveloped the weapon. It wasn't as hot as the real Naruto's fire and the clones' chakras were drained from the effort, but it would still be able to bring damage to those who received the end of it. The red cocoon that covered Naruto was now invisible.

Above, in the balcony, Gai cornered his silver haired rival. "Was his claim true, Kakashi?" the Leaf ninjas, including the genins although they didn't know that Naruto was claiming to be the Fourth's son as they didn't know about Kyuubi being sealed inside him, were listening in.

Team 7's jounin stared at Gai before he turned to sandaime who nodded grimly. He didn't know that the boy actually knew about his heritage and he decided to tell the secret out front in public where other village's ninjas were there no less. But if this was truly what he wanted… He decided to talk to Naruto about this later and also to the jounins. He didn't want Iwa or other yondaime's enemies to chase after Naruto, especially after he gave him the pass to go outside Konoha without company.

"Yes," and that caused the jounins to gasp and murmur among themselves. "And I'm sure that sandaime would like to keep it quiet," he hinted, telling them if they leaked it they'd be punished for it. Sasuke, Sakura, Lee, and Tenten were staring at their jounins in curiousity. "Sorry, but you don't need to know about it. Village's secret and all," Kakashi told his team, causing the genins to be more curious of Naruto's life and family. Meanwhile Gai was worried. If what Naruto said was true, did that mean that he had a semblance of control over the seal and thus the demon chakra?

Back to the fight, Neji were fending off Naruto and his clones with difficulty. Naruto seemed to toy with him and just as he thought that he had breached his stupid flaming kunais and launched attack to a Naruto clone, it blew up on his face, literally. Thankfully he had leapt backward when he saw there was something wrong when the clone grinned.

"Ah, yes, I forget to tell you that my clones will blow up when you dispose them," Naruto added good-naturedly. Neji was lucky that the clone had used most of its chakra to use the flame or the blast would be bigger, but he didn't know that and now he was pissed off, especially when his blonde opponent created another clone with its flaming kunai. He was on the verge of blowing up of frustration and slammed his head into nearby wall.

He was just-just impossible!

Hayate raised his eyebrow to Neji when he heard the sound of his teeth clenching. There were many who had dealt with Naruto shared Neji's sentiment of the boy.

Meanwhile Naruto was having the fun of his life. Really, annoying arrogant and prideful people were truly wonderful. Sure they would be hard to rile up for the first time, but if he knew how to push the right button it would be as easy as turning over his hand. And when they were frustrated, they blew up spectacularly. It was funny to see a stoic face turning red with veins and eyes bulging in rage, promising murder. Naruto bit the inside of his lip to prevent himself from laughing outloud, seeing Neji's furious face.

"Well, Destiny Boy, what's up? Scared?" he taunted. His clones jumped toward the black haired boy.

"In your dream!" he said with conviction. He didn't believe what he had said. It was just a ploy to distract him. "Kaiten!" he rotated and deflected the kunais. The clones flipped backward and in unison breathed blue fire. Aside from team 7 and several individuals, all eyes were wide open at the attack.

Shocked, Neji stumbled on his defense, causing a stream of fire to burn his left arm. He quickly fortified his defense and rotated faster to create a vaccum area around him. One by one, the clones poofed out, their chakras being spent on the attack. Neji stopped rotating, breathing heavily for air and clutching his wounded arm. Sweats covered his face, as his skin felt the scorching blue flame that circled him.

There was a silhouette of shadow behind the flame that was no doubt Naruto. The boy walked toward him and the fire parted on its own. Naruto had no problem walking on the fire. It wouldn't hurt him, but it would to his clothes and he certainly didn't want to burn his clothes in front of these many people. Even though it was fireproofed, it still couldn't stand his special blue flame.

Neji narrowed his eyes when Naruto smirked as if he was beneath him and he saw none of his burning kunai on his hand. "I'll show you my _destiny_! 64 hands! 4 hands!" Naruto deflected the hands by his own. "16 hands!" a couple of the attack went through, but to his surprise, there was an invisible shield around his body that distorted Neji's chakra enhanced hand and caused it to fail from closing the blond's tenketsu.

"I hope you remember my chakra shield. I don't let out my chakra just for show off," Naruto grabbed his wrist and whispered near his opponent's ear with a chuckle, before another of his hand caught Neji's arm and then threw him to the floor harshly. "It seems that your destiny is to be defeated by me," he raised an amused eyebrow as his 2 fingers were on Neji's throat, ready to strike him.

"Fuck you!"

"What happen to the ever polite noble Hyuuga?"

"The winner is—"

"Give me a minute to deal with him, Hayate-san!" Naruto told the examiner.

"Can't do that, Naruto (cough). The match is (cough) finished," The sickly jounin said.

"By the way, you still don't believe me, do you?" Naruto ignored Hayate. "Then let me take you to my memory lane. It's very real, I assure you." Naruto flicked off Neji's hitae-ate and gathered chakra on his hand before touching right in the center of his caged bird seal before someone (i.e. Gai, Hayate, or sandaime) could stop it. Neji's eyes glazed and his struggle was stop. "Finished!" Naruto said with a smile and stood up, leaving unresponsive Neji on the floor.

"_Neji_!" Gai leapt down toward his beaten student in concern. "What did you do to him?" he demanded with a glare.

"Nothing much. I don't destroy his mind if that's what you're worried about. Let's just say that since he didn't believe me, then he'd need visual demonstration. He'll sleep for…ah let's just say a week, and he'll see the memory of my first 7 years. Perhaps that will correct his attitude and let him know that there are many who have worse lives than him. If he's still the same even after this experience, I don't know what else to do to him aside from beating the crap out of him. Oh, almost forget. When he wakes up, tell him about the law. You don't want to have your student to be executed for blabbing, do you?" Naruto jumped back to the balcony, where everyone around gave him a wide berth. "What?" he looked around him and asked innocently.

The jury sighed. "Winner of the match: Uzumaki Naruto!" no one was clapping. All of them were staring at the blond. Sandaime was frowning at him, but Naruto simply raised an eyebrow. The screen then showed the contestants' names. "Next match: Yakushi Kabuto Vs. Rock Lee!" Lee smiled, but he didn't cheer. The image of his beaten self-proclaimed rival that he hadn't able to defeat was flashing on his mind.

Baki, Temari, and Kankurou backed away when Gaara's hand bent the railing. _He's agitated_, was what they all thought, knowing that he didn't have a chance to shed blood and would pass through the 2nd exam without fighting.

Kabuto fixed his glass. If he could, he'd like to be the one who passed without fighting, but it seemed that he was unable to do that. He had to make sure to hold back his power. The traitorous genin walked down the stairs casually, instead of leaping down like his opponent.

Naruto narrowed his eyes. From what he could gather from his clones' memories, Yakushi was a medic-nin. His chakra scalpel was dangerous. Lee was unlucky to be his opponent. Although both excelled in hand-to-hand combat, he had a slight advantage over having chakra to back him up. Another thing was his high regenerative ability. It was beyond normal. Not to mention that he seemed to have data about Lee. The 2 genins faced each other on the field. The blue fire had died out, leaving trace of burnt floor.

"Hajime!" Lee dashed toward his opponent and launched a spin kick that was caught by Kabuto's hand. Undeterred, Lee swung his other leg while he was still grabbing his leg. Kabuto loosened his hold and ducked, sweeping the floor with his leg, just as Lee landed on the floor. Lee's legs were caught but he backflipped thrice, creating a gap between them.

"Yosh, Lee, keep it up!" Gai shouted.

"Hai, Gai-sensei!" backed by his sensei, Lee attacked once more. This time Kabuto enhanced his hands with chakra and opened his palm. He deflected Lee's furious attack, allowing himself to be hit more than twice. He was surprised however when Lee kicked him on his cheek on the place where he put his weight band. Kabuto was thrown to the wall nearby, breaking his bones. He hissed angrily. He felt his regenerative ability dealt with the wound, avoiding another barrage of punches and kicks. He cut Lee's tendon on his leg when he performed a kick cleanly. Lee cried out as he fell on the floor, his balance was thrown.

"LEE!" hearing his voice called, he flipped and winced when his wounded leg made contact with the floor.

"Give it up. I know where to cut the right muscles to make you down. Unless you want to be permanently damaged for the rest of your life, you will surrender."

The weight was wearing down Lee's wounded leg. He was forced to take both of them out and threw them to the floor. The others were surprised to see the craters they created when they landed on the floor.

"I'm sorry, but I can't give up!" with that Lee disappeared from Kabuto's sight. The taijutsu user winced as his wounded leg hindered his speed, but he forced the leg to work anyway.

_I underestimate him_, Kabuto thought as Lee was beating him. _But I won't lose against him_. Kabuto was forced to reveal more of his strength and retaliated against Lee, slashing his chakra scalpel on the spot where he thought Lee would attack next. Some of his guesses were right and more of Lee's muscles were cut. Some of the cuts were done poorly. Those slashes would be harder to heal. He had thought that he'd cut his muscles in the right place where they would be easier to heal, but Lee didn't give him the chance. _Idiot! If only he complied, he won't be wounded like this_. As time went on and both contestants received their wounds, Lee's muscles were beginning to wear down and his speed was slowed down. Lee was an offensive fighter and his defense was his attacks, but now with his body weakened, he created an opening on his defense that Kabuto used to launch his attack on his heart. The chakra enhanced hand was an inch above where his heart laid.

"I win this match," he said with conviction to both examiner and his opponent, wincing at the bruises he got. He was lucky to have high regeneration.

Lee was biting his lip, sad that he was defeated. With the excitement over, his legs buckled and he dropped to the floor. Hayate nodded and confirmed the winner of the match. Gai jumped down worriedly and checked his student. The group of medic-nins put Lee on stretcher. One of them was raising his eyebrow at Kabuto when he noticed the clean cut that would allow them to heal him easier. Kabuto shrugged and went back to his spot on the balcony with a small satisfied smile, performing healing jutsu on his sickly blue skin.

"Wow, for someone who had failed his exam many times, he sure was strong," Sakura said. "Wonder why he wasn't able to become chuunin before this." Kakashi was suspicious of the boy who wore glasses on his face and so were some other Leaf ninjas.

Sandaime rose from his seat with a smile. "The second exam is over. The last exam will be held in a month, allowing the participants to rest and train, so they will be able to perform in their best condition. This exam would be a tournament where you would be judged and watched by the spectators. Many Lords will be invited to the exam and I expect you to do your best for your villages! This year's last match will be different from previous years. Instead of one on one match, it will be a battle royal tournament." There were whispers around. The foreign ninjas were muttering about unfairness, since there was a chance that the Leaf genins would join into a group to gang upon the other villages' ninjas and only after then going against each other. "It is hoped that with this battle royal tournament, the participants will be able to display his prowess when fighting under pressure and from all sides. It will be more like the real ninja's battle, rather than just a match. I strongly remind you all to not come late," the glance was directed at Kakashi as a warning, "As you'll be disqualified and thus loose your chance to become a chuunin. With this, now I proclaim that this part of the exam is over."

Naruto smirked. "A battle royal, eh? Sounds interesting," he said before he disappeared.

TBC…

Bet none of you think about that! Personally I think a battle royal will be more fun.

Now the participants would be:

Sand: Gaara, Kankurou

Leaf: Tenten, Sasuke, Naruto, Kabuto (though he was a spy of Sound)

Gaara was itching for blood! Man, it's so difficult to create a story of battle when your vocabulary is rather limited. Now review, please.


	21. Part Twenty One

Author's Note: hopefully it will satisfy the readers who are screaming at me to update this fic. Geez guys, no need to threaten me to update this fic. I like reading fanfiction more than writing it, you know. Happy Easter, guys. This chapter is my gift for you all.

**Part Twenty One**

After spending the day for training in the forest, Naruto went to a small creek for a bath. No bathhouse allowed him service and even if there was any none of them wouldn't accept the giant two tailed fox that was following him. Personally Naruto felt that it was too troublesome to threaten the owner to use onsen when he could take a bath privately in nature. You had to love his fire ability. Within minutes, the water in the small creek was as hot as in onsen and no one else was within sight. Naruto and Kibi dipped into the warm water. Naruto sighed in contentment, while the fox was purring.

The Kyuubi vessel amused himself by controlling the water around him. One mini water version Naruto was beating his teammates and jounin. Mini Sakura was crying as mini Naruto cut her hair. Another scene showed mini Naruto cackling as he burned Sasuke's clothes that had Uchiha fan on them. Mini Sasuke was begging him to stop it, but instead Mini Naruto moved to burn his Uchiha library. The real Naruto was grinning.

Mini Sasuke then changed into Mini Kakashi who was begging Naruto to stop throwing away his porn book from the cliff. Kibi's eyes eyed the movement before he bit Mini Kakashi curiously, which immediately turned back into water.

"Awww," Naruto pouted and glared at the guilty looking fox. The boy flicked Kibi's wet nose. The fox whined in protest.

It was 2 days after the preliminary was over and he saw none of other combatants nearby…well actually not really. He saw Hatake just kidnapped a sleeping Uchiha and brought him to God-Knows-Where this morning. He wondered if the jounin had drugged the boy or something because the boy didn't react at all being carried away like a doll. He bet that he would be so shocked to find himself not in his room, but somewhere else when he woke up. That thought made him chuckle.

He sniffed the air when he smell roasted meet nearby. Apparently his clones had finished hunting and prepared for his food. The joy of having big chakra reserve and kage bunshin…you had someone to cater your needs without complaint. From its smell he knew that the meal would be ready soon. His mouth watered.

"Come on, Kibi. Dinner is almost done," he called the fox that was still playing in the water, as he changed. The two tailed fox yipped before it emerged from the warm water reluctantly. It shook off its body to dry its fur and followed its master to where its master's clones were preparing dinner.

Naruto stopped eating and his fox was growling, as it turned to a tree. A figure emerged from behind the tree. It was a big old man, younger than sandaime, with long white hair. Naruto didn't say anything, but went back to eat. Since Naruto ignored him, the fox went back to eat as well, but kept its wary eyes on the man. The man, in turn, watched it warily. Suddenly his stomach growled and he looked at the meat Naruto was eating sheepishly.

"Eh he heh, sorry kid. Seems like I'm hungry." Naruto didn't say anything. "Uh…" he started awkwardly. "Aren't you going to offer me something?"

This time Naruto turned. "And pray to tell me, why should I?"

"Oh come on, kid, be compassionate," the fox and Naruto simultaneously snorted.

"There is no 'compassionate' in my book. If you're hungry, go to restaurant inside the city. It isn't that far," Naruto knew who he was. Jiraiya, The Toad Hermit, one of Konoha Sannin, Sandaime's student and also the teacher of the late yondaime, the man his father was apprenticed under. The man had never met him before, even knowing who he was, so why the sudden interest? He wasn't there when he needed him.

"Aw, come on, kid," he whined.

"_Don't_ call me 'kid'! And cut the crap!" he snarled. Jiraiya took a step back, wondering what he had done to deserve his anger. Unknown to him, it wasn't because of what he had done, but what he hadn't done. Reacting to its master anger, the male fox stood to its real intimidating height and growled low, baring its teeth. "What do you want? Don't tell me that dear father of mine put you into this," he spat.

"You know who your father was?" Jiraiya asked in shock.

"Of course. Had known it since I was 7 years old. I'd be blind not to realize it. Imagine my surprise when I realized that my idol was actually my father and that he was the reason why I was hated and treated like a trash. I needed 3 days just to snap out of my shock."

"…So you also know about _it_," he said sadly.

"The fox? Oh yes, I am," Naruto said, calmer. "So let me ask you this question once again: What do you want? I doubt you come here just to visit me after all these years."

"I have made a promise to your father," told Jiraiya.

"You're 12 years too late for that," he sneered. "Come on, Kibi. You can take the leftover, I don't care," Naruto turned away.

"Wait, don't you want to surpass your father?" the boy stopped walking.

"Already on that way. It won't be long before I surpass him on my own. Your help is unneeded."

"You can be a frog summoner, kid!" the white haired man called up.

"Already have a fox contract. Don't need another summon." Jiraiya felt like tearing his hair. He sighed before he took a small scroll and threw it to Naruto's back. The blonde ninja caught it without looking.

"I made a promise to your father and I intend to follow it through. You don't want my help? Fine. That scroll is intended for you. Inside is your father's notes about his prized techniques, like rasengan and hiraishin, and some notes about new other techniques he was trying to concoct. Whether you learn it or not is up to you. I'm just a courier," Jiraiya plopped down the ground and ate the leftover meat, which was half the boar meat.

Naruto had half the mind to throw the scroll, but stopped short. He wondered Konoha's reaction when they saw him, their hated scapegoat, using their beloved yondaime's technique. Perhaps there was a benefit learning these techniques. Inside him, Kyuubi agreed. If anything it would be interesting to see their reaction.

Naruto vanished from Jiraiya's sight without saying anything.

"Man, that kid was difficult. Not even Arashi was this difficult," he complained.

"That's because the boy was jaded already. He simply doesn't believe on others," Sandaime stepped out of shadow and lit his pipe. "The future of Konoha doesn't seem to be bright," he exhaled the smoke, as he stared at the full moon in the sky.

Jiraiya snorted. "That's the understatement of the year. Let's just hope that Konoha will still stand by the time the danger comes to pass. Btw, your report about the kid was incorrect. He seemed more world-weary than what you had told me."

"Well, I'd like to give him some credits. As it is, it is a miracle that he's still sane…relatively sane anyway. And he hasn't gone on rampage like Itachi…yet."

"…You're not sure, aren't you?" the old Hokage sighed. "Do you think it's wise to give that scroll to him?"

"It's his heritage. It was his in the first place. And I'm hoping that it'll placate his anger to Konoha and Arashi somewhat."

"Seems like a futile attempt to me," the Icha Icha author shrugged.

"Funny, that's the same line you told me when you were talking about Arashi when you first taught him. And he became Hokage in the end" sandaime smiled.

"Hey, I'm not a miracle worker. And it was thanks to Arashi himself he achieved that rank. Naruto has more potential than Arashi, but at the same time he holds more anger and hate. I doubt that whatever method I used on Arashi will work on him."

"Well, it seems like we can only pray for the best then."

"…That doesn't sound very assuring."

"No one says it does," sandaime's shoulder sagged. Both ninjas sighed.

0-0 0-0 0-0

It was a week after he met Jiraiya and was given the scroll. The only thing he had mastered so far was rasengan. He simply didn't have the right seal knowledge to attempt hiraishin and he had no time to make new techniques from his father's notes at the moment. Naruto was trying to perfect his father's rasengan. According to his note, he had failed to include element to the technique and so that was what Naruto currently attempting.

The principle was rotation. He was using wind element because it was easier to rotate among all elements, with water being the close second. Right now Naruto was trying to increase the number of rotations it had. His chakra control training, manipulating water strings really helped him. And fortunately wind was his affinity, so there was no problem there.

"…It looks like a giant shuriken," he commented, panting as he looked at the variation of rasengan he had made, 5 days after he mastered rasengan. It was a bother to maintain the thing though. "But it still can't be thrown. Damnit all to hell!" he cursed, before he hit a nearby tree with it. He was alarmed when there was a big explosion that hurled his body away, and his hand HURTS! "God damnit!" he yelled when he saw the bleeding meat that was supposed to be his right hand. To his shock, the wound healed rather slowly although the amount of chakra Kyuubi pumped into it was the same.

Naruto then turned to the blown tree and was shocked to find a huge crater behind said tree. "Don't tell me that it's just another super powered rasengan!" he groaned. He already had super rasengan by using Kyuubi's chakra (AN: and for the sake of simplicity I will use the name oodama rasengan for this). He prickled the tree splinters with his healthy hand and found to his shock that the splinter turned into ashes by a simple touch. "Woah…okay, maybe not so another super powered rasengan," he muttered.

A quick visit to hospital and death threats later, the terrified doctor showed him the result of the test a day later. The skin of his right hand was still red and tender, but at least it didn't look like hungry wolves had chew on it.

"My cells are destroyed?" he mumbled in disbelieve. "Damn, guess that version of rasengan is truly on another level." It was a good technique, but there were disadvantages. It was a double edged technique though whoever received it got the most damage. It also couldn't be thrown despite it looked like a shuriken ball. And its huge size allowed his opponent to see it. Not to mention it was hell to maintain. "So the winds practically slashed the cells. That made it hell to heal and would kill any ninja without high regeneration like me. That's an advantage." Naruto put rasen shuriken under 'last move/suicidal technique' list. "There has to be a way to protect my arm, but how?" Naruto frowned.

Naruto tried to use kage bunshin to do the technique. He poured more chakra to the clone. Unfortunately the clone dissolved after it created rasen shuriken. Apparently the technique was killing off the cells of the clone just by holding it. It was only after Naruto used seals to enforce the clone, did it manage to hold it down for barely 5 seconds before it dissolved.

"Damn, that take a lot chakra to make," he grumbled. It would be better off using normal rasengan several times than creating an enforced kage bunshin to make 5 seconds rasen shuriken. "Well, I did use wind for this, maybe wind is also my answer."

He needed another week to get the answer and even then it wasn't perfect yet. The first idea was to form a wind shield around his arm to cancel off the effect of rasen shuriken. That was easier said than done. It was really difficult to rotate wind and chakra in 2 different parts of arm. And Naruto was more used using fire than wind. It seemed like he would be forced to train his wind control. He used up his final week to train his wind affinity, hoping that he wouldn't need much effort and chakra to control rasen shuriken by the time of the exam.

Two days before the last exam started, sandaime approached him. Naruto trained outside his seeing range, so he couldn't use his crystal ball to spy on his training. Jiraiya only got glimpses of his training and he couldn't come closer without alerting Naruto or his fox, but his white haired student was sure that Naruto had mastered rasengan, much to their shock and delight. He wondered whether Naruto managed to improve rasengan's ability. The report that he had gotten from the doctor that Naruto had threatened was a bit worrying. He had talked about the destroyed cells to his colleges and none of them had ever seen injury like that.

"How far are you in mastering rasengan?" he asked Naruto who was having a blast creating wind blades and tearing down the forest.

Naruto didn't say anything, but rather showed him by making the swirling ball in his left hand under 5 seconds. "It was easy to follow his instruction," he admitted grudgingly. Although he was still bitter against his father, he had to respect his prowess as ninja.

"How long did you spend to master it?"

"Five days," there was a sharp gasp from Hokage's mouth.

"That's impressive. Jiraiya needed 3 months to master it and even then it was under Arashi's guidance."

"His chakra control sucks, that's why," Naruto snorted. "And he wasn't used controlling chakra in its raw form. It was easy to do once you understood its principles."

"Am I to assume that your chakra control is good? I'm under the impression that with chakra reserve as big as yours, it will be harder to control."

"I spent half of my entire training for chakra control. I already knew my weakness; there was no way I'm just leaving it like that. So why are you here? I thought you are busy."

"Just going for a fresh air," he shrugged.

"I hope you're not using me as an excuse to escape your paperwork," Naruto rolled his eyes when the old man looked away sheepishly.

"Actually there are other reasons. I want to see how far you are with the scroll. Have you taken a look at other techniques on it?"

"There is only one other finished technique there and that's hiraishin. Unfortunately my current knowledge of seal won't let me go that far yet. I'm planning to learn it after I'm outside Konoha."

"Ah yes…about that," he started. "My student, Jiraiya, brought me news about an organization of S-class missing-nins that are interested with bijuus such as the one sealed inside you. My former student, Orochimaru, was once a member of that group. There is also Uchiha Itachi, Sasuke's older brother, there."

"If you're trying to convince me to stay here, just forget it," Naruto cut off.

"Well, I hope that you'll stay here, but I know you won't agree to it."

"Understatement of the year," Naruto leaned against a tree.

"Anyway, that's just a warning. This way you won't be taken by surprise by them."

"Thanks for the warning…I guess."

"I'd also like to ask a favor from you," the blond raised an eyebrow. "One of the Leaf-nins, Yakushi Kabuto, is apparently a spy. He had approached Sasuke who was with Kakashi at the time. He disappeared afterwards, but there is possibility he'll still enter the tournament."

"You want me to eliminate him?" he grinned predatorily.

Sarutobi coughed. "I am hoping that you'll capture him, so Ibiki can interrogate him. This is his folder."

Naruto accepted and opened the folder. He raised an eyebrow. "High cell regeneration as a bloodline limit?"

"And he's a medic-nin too, so he can use his bloodline more efficiently. A good one apparently. You saw how he cut Rock Lee's tendons. That was a professional work."

"Interesting," he wondered how Kabuto would fare against his rasengan and perhaps even rasen shuriken.

"Just remember that the objective is to capture him alive. It will be easier for you as a contestant rather than us as spectators."

"Whatever. He's an opponent so I'll fight him anyway. Plus he's pretty annoying."

"Well then, good luck."

He snorted. "It's my opponents that will need all the lucks they could get."

"Just be careful anyway."

"If you don't start stop talking, I will make sure you won't be able to attend the tournament," he threatened impatiently.

"Oh fine, geez. Here I'm worrying over you and you get rude all sudden."

"I don't need you worrying over me, that'll mean you don't believe my capability. Beside I'm always like this and you've never complained before."

"Not right in front of your face, alright," Sarutobi mumbled.

"What was that?"

"It's nothing," he said quickly.

"That's what I thought," the blond nodded in satisfaction.

"Oh and Naruto, one last thing. Please don't use traps! I don't want you to kill all contestants," he pleaded.

Naruto grinned. "No deal, old man."

0-0 0-0 0-0

The Kyuubi vessel was itching to gut the young man on his right, but the exam hadn't started yet. Worse—he looked around—there was no sign of Sasuke anywhere in the field. Well, if that boy wanted to be disqualified for being late, that was his problem. He was the only one not there yet and the exam would be started in 10 minutes.

"Where's Uchiha Sasuke?" Shiranui Genma, the proctor of this exam, asked.

"Last time I saw him, Hatake kidnapped him," he shrugged, earning sweatdrop from others.

"Well if he didn't arrive soon, he would be disqualified. It isn't a one on one match, so we can't move his match."

"Humph, it shows that the famed Uchiha is a coward," Kankurou drawled.

"Nope," Naruto smirked. "He's here," the contestant door was slammed open to reveal a panting Sasuke with his sharingan on. He looked pretty incensed. He growled angrily as he took a stand beside his teammate and shot a suspicious glare at Kabuto who smiled in return. "You were almost disqualified," he informed.

"Yes, no thanks to our _beloved_ instructor," he hissed angrily. "If I see him after this, I'll cut off his balls and burn his porns (in his seat, Kakashi shivered for reason unknown). That man didn't tell me where I was before he disappeared without trace yesterday," he growled. "It took me a long time to get the right track and twice I took the wrong turns," he gritted his teeth.

"Humph. Typical Hatake," he was amused.

"Well, now that all of contestants are here, we can start the exam," Genma proclaimed, cutting off Sasuke's reply. "If any proctor or medic-nin enter the field, you're not allowed to attack them or you'll be disqualified unless if they cut you off in the middle of your attack. You still can't attack them afterwards though. Killing is allowed, but remember that needless killing isn't a chuunin qualification. Team up isn't allowed here because people complained it isn't fair…but if you manipulate others to do your bidding, that's another thing," he grinned. "I'll be up there, so you don't have to worry of me getting in your way. When you hear me blow the whistle, you can start the fight. Now take your place, anywhere in the stadium."

Gaara chose a plain field with no tree around. Kankurou took the place farthest from Gaara, as he didn't want to be his victim. Tenten chose the place with the most trees around for cover, which was near Kankurou. Sasuke took place near Kankurou, on the other side of Tenten. Kabuto placed himself near Sasuke, and Naruto chose to stay near Kabuto, which made him in the nearest place to Gaara's location.

The spectators were divided to who they should concentrate on. Most of them were interested to see the last Uchiha and also the Suna weapon, Gaara. Bets were done all over the stadium.

**Meanwhile in the stand**

"Who do you think will win, Gai-sensei?" Lee, who was standing with a crutch, asked. The medic-nins had done their best to heal him. Thankfully his wounds were pretty easy to treat, as Kabuto took care when he created them. He was asked to not stressing his muscles before e would be deemed completely healed for another week. Not like the young nin stopped training, and he made his doctor and nurses angry with that decision.

"We'll see it soon, Lee. All of them are filled with burning passion of youth!" Gai's teeth glinted. Neji sighed as several people scooted away from the pair. The Hyuuga boy had awakened 3 weeks ago, pretty traumated by the experience. He had mellowed a bit after the incident. During these weeks he always wondered how Naruto didn't snap and killing anyone…yet. He was pretty sure that the younger boy was no longer completely sane.

"That means Tenten has a chance to win this!" he exclaimed.

"Of course, Lee. Our team member has trained for this occasion!" Gai patted Lee's shoulder.

"She'll need a bloody miracle to fight against Uzumaki," he knew that Tenten was angry at Naruto for beating not only Lee but also he himself cruelly, but the girl had to understand he was on wholly other level. She had never won against him, and he was beaten/humiliated without much effort from the blond.

Lee's grin deflated.

"Huh, are you saying that you think Naruto will win the fight?" Ino asked in disbelief. "No way, he's a deadlast!" she laughed it off.

"Then, you don't know him," Neji stared. "He _is_ strong. You won't stand a chance against him, girl."

She scoffed. "Yeah right, perhaps you need to check your eyes," she said in disbelief.

"He's right, you know," Kiba scowled from his stand. "I don't want to admit this, but the one who prevented us from reaching the tower is Naruto."

"No way!" she exclaimed.

"My nose never lied to me," Kiba said, offended. "Shino can vouch for him too, right Shino?" he turned to his quiet teammate.

"My bugs told me that he was strong. His mere presence…upset them, just like Sabaku no Gaara did."

"That red head? What's with him?"

Hinata looked nervous. "We s-saw him s-s-slaughtered a team of Ra-Rain-nins al-alone. If if not b-because of his team-teammates, w-we won't be h-here, right now," she twiddled her fingers, her eyes were planted in the floor.

"Woah, and you said Naruto's presence upset your bugs the same way Gaara did?" she still looked doubtful. "But he was the last of everything in the academy!" she protested.

"Che. Just like I found the academy too troublesome, Naruto didn't seem to care about marks. In fact he looked more like he wanted to flunk the academy. And don't forget that it was Naruto who stopped us too," Shikamaru pointed out.

"But I thought it was just another ninja using his image so we'll underestimate him!"

"Well, he was really Naruto, not another ninja. Che, this is too troublesome. Wake me up when it is over," he slumped to his seat.

"I can't believe it," Ino shook her head.

"Well, you better believe it, fast. Because I'm sure he'll be the one to win this tournament," Hinata's cousin claimed.

"Now, now, Neji, you know that the others also have the same chance like he does to win the tournament," his sensei chastised.

"I'm still rooting on him," he closed off the matter.

"What do you think, Kakashi? Do you think your wayward student will win this?"

"I have to admit he has pretty good chance to win this," the Cyclops shrugged. "Still I heard that Gaara was Suna's secret weapon, so he must be pretty strong. Plus Kabuto's ability as medic-nin is worrisome for his opponents. And I had trained Sasuke extensively for a month. Tenten is a weapon expert, and Kankurou's ability is still unknown. The sure thing is that no one will win a battle of attrition against Naruto."

"Why?" Temari who was nearby asked curiously. She didn't think the blond would win against Gaara. He was a jinchuuriki of Shukaku!

"Even now Naruto had more stamina and chakra than Gai and I combined. In fact Naruto has surpassed even our Hokage in that regard," the genins had admitted that the supposed deadlast was strong, but to have chakra reserve bigger than Hokage at such young age?

"Humph, if that's the only thing he has, Gaara won't lose. He has huge chakra reserve that rivaled our Kazekage too," she exclaimed. "And he's my younger brother and son of Kazekage."

An amused laugh greeted her. "Well guess what, missy. Naruto is the son of our yondaime too," Jiraiya grinned, making the genins gasped in shock. "Uh? You don't know?" he looked nervous now and turned to Kakashi who glared at him accusingly. "But Sarutobi-sensei told me that he knew about his hidden heritage and that he had told others about it in the second exam," he protested.

"Jiraiya-sama, the ones who understood what he talked about were the adults of Leaf-nins," told Kakashi sternly.

"Er…oops?" he offered weakly.

"Forget it," the Copy Sharingan shook his head.

Temari swallowed and turned to watch Naruto. She then shook her head. She should have faith for her brother. It wasn't like Naruto was a monster like him…right?

The whistle was sounded.

The battle royal tournament began.

**TBC…**

The tournament is for the next chapter. If you want to complain about the whole rasen shuriken thing, don't put it on review, do it in your own heads or something, coz I don't care. I don't want to write scenes about it step by step.


	22. Part Twenty Two

**Author's Note**: …I actually write this after so long. I actually write this after the blunder of having my written stories erased from my hard drive and then final exam…and then there was also (and still is) Harvest Moon: More Friends in Mineral Town that I had begun playing in my computer (sadly I have no playstation or game boy or anything else really and it's more sad that this is the first Harvest Moon that I play). Right now I'm entering short term (no need to go back to my hometown, hell yea. It's so boring there. The only thing I look forward if I am there—which I am not—is my mom's cooking) so I have much time to spend (though mostly I spent it playing Harvest Moon). Doesn't mean that my writing will kick up soon though. I'm still too lazy.

I apologize for the lateness of the update of this fic…wait…actually I don't. It's not like I'm getting paid for writing this fic. Sigh…

**Part Twenty Two**

Naruto looked around the arena with a pout. It seemed Sandaime had done a sweeping on the arena before the tournament started to destroy any trap he managed to put there. What Naruto didn't know was that there were several ninjas got themselves transferred to hospital in the attempt to remove his traps and how the old Sarutobi got a bigger headache from it, especially that some of his ninjas were down to count when there was an invasion to fight off.

The whistle was sounded to announce the start of the tournament, but even then no one moved from their spots, carefully watching their opponents.

Tenten was already focused on Naruto. She'd make him pay for hurting her teammates while he seemed to enjoy seeing them suffer. At least Yakushi Kabuto had taken care not to injure Lee much and only trying to disable the taijutsu specialist with special care. It didn't mean she would dismiss the others' dangerous potential though. This was not one-in-one battle.

Kankurou warily watched Gaara from the corner of his eyes as he looked at Uchiha Sasuke. He knew that the black haired boy was one of the genins the red head was interested to and he didn't want to face Gaara's ire if he chose to attack the Leaf genin. Uzumaki Naruto was another one to be wary about. His presence seemed to unsettle Gaara, and he never saw his little brother did it before. Kabuto's chakra scalpel was one to be watch for this ability could cut the chakra strings that connected him to his dolls, beside he was between Uchiha and Uzumaki. He decided to target the bun haired girl.

Sasuke immediately dismissed Tenten from his list, for he didn't care much fighting a kunoichi. He'd like to fight Naruto if only to avenge all the pranks that happened upon him. Still that four eyed was annoying, ogling him like he was a piece of meat, so perhaps he should be the first one to go first. Kakashi had told him to be careful around Gaara, so he'd see what he got first. It would be a fool move to dismiss his teacher's warning. He didn't care much about Kankurou unless the older boy attacked him first.

Kabuto's target was definitely Sasuke, but he could feel Naruto's malicious smirk toward him even if he didn't see it. He clutched the hidden syringe tightly. It was still in its experimental stage, but he was pretty sure that he had managed to create a way to mirror the effect of Orochimaru's bite to make cursed seal. Inside it was Juugo's blood and Orochimaru's venom. The snake man had approved him using it, but warned him that if it failed, he'd pay for it. Kabuto was confident that his experiment wouldn't fail him. Beside if Sasuke died because of it, he could salvage the situation by implanting his sharingan eyes to Orochimaru like what had happened to Hatake Kakashi. He could think later how to implant the eyes many times so Orochimaru could still use them when he changed his body after years of use.

(AN: for those who don't know who Juugo is, Juugo is the original who has the cursed seal which was then twisted by Orochimaru to fit his purpose)

Gaara was looking at Sasuke. He had heard the rumored prodigy and would like to taste his blood. But his real target was Uzumaki Naruto. The boy didn't seem to fear him even though he knew that he was the vessel of Shukaku. He wanted to know why and to see whether he was truly not afraid or it was only a façade.

Naruto didn't care about Tenten, Kankurou, or Sasuke. He felt they weren't really worth his time. Who cared if the girl's eyes were drilling daggers against him. Kankurou was a wimp for fearing his own brother, even if said brother was jinchuuriki. And Sasuke? Time and time again the boy had fallen to his traps. Gaara would be definitely strong opponent, but he already knew what to expect from the red head. No, his focus was Yakushi Kabuto. He was on jounin level with great control to become an excellent medic-nin like Tsunade, one of The Legendary Sannin of Konoha. And his bloodline limit was definitely interesting for it reminded him of his own regenerative ability that was passed down from his furry tenant. And the old man did ask him to apprehend him.

…Okay, maybe he used that excuse so he could freely beat the shit outta him.

There was still no one instigating the first move.

Tired of it and didn't feel like having a staring contest, Naruto moved first. Kabuto dodged the kunais that flew toward him with ease. Naruto grinned, already expecting that. If four eyed couldn't dodge it obviously he really overestimated him. He still had a trick up his sleeve though. As he jumped to avoid the incoming sand from Gaara he mouthed, "Boom."

The kunai in the ground unexpectedly exploded, catching Kabuto and Sasuke nearby who saw no explosive note in the kunais in surprise. It was fortunate that Kabuto was more than a competent ninja and had been able to avoid the worst of it, but his ear had went temporarily deaf and his left arm was hit by the small rocks that came from the explosion.

"Will you please wait a moment until after I deal with him?" Naruto politely asked Gaara as he twisted his body to avoid the sand. He sighed when he received no answer. "Oh well, it _is_ a battle royale so I shouldn't ask you to wait your turn. Kuchiyose no jutsu!" the summoning smoke faded to reveal Naruto stood above his two tailed mount. There were gasps from the spectator's stand but Naruto didn't care in the slightest. So what if they knew he could summon fox, he'd get out of the village soon anyway. The boy tilted his head and scratched his mount's ear, earning him purrs. "See that red head, Kibi? He's your opponent. I don't need to tell you what he is, right?" the fox raised its eyebrow and stared at him in disbelief. "Don't worry, I don't ask you to fight him full front, just keep him busy, will you?" It snorted and nodded.

Naruto jumped from the fox and landed softly on the ground. He cracked his knuckles and grinned at Kabuto who was watching him warily. "I hope you are prepared to lose against me," he announced.

Kabuto fixed his glass. "Actually…I'm not."

Naruto's grin widened further. "We'll see."

Sasuke was thinking furiously, 'Why do I feel like I'm just a canon fodder?' he grumbled as he watched Kabuto decide to go against Naruto. Not wanting to face Naruto's ire (red: prank) if he interfered, Sasuke attacked Kankurou, who was the next nearest opponent even if he was currently fighting against Tenten. It wasn't like Sasuke cared what the weapon specialist thought about him.

Kankurou was manipulating the chakra strings on his fingers when a ball of fire was launched toward him. Cursing, he dodged and redirected his doll that was supposed to fight Tenten to launch its poisoned folded knives against the black haired boy.

Grunting, Sasuke unfolded his fuuma shuriken from his backpack and threw it. The giant shuriken deflected the launched knives and created and open path for its owner.

Tenten was pissed for a moment before she realized it would be her chance to attack Naruto with her attacker was busy fending off the attacks of her fellow Leaf ninja.

Meanwhile Gaara was ticked off with the two tailed fox that continuously kept him from fighting its summoner. The fox was too fast for his sand although it could not go neared either with his sand defending him. It sent a jet of fire stream so hot which made his sand turned into fragile glass that with one swipe of its tail break it. Fuming, Gaara commanded his sand to catch the infuriating fox from all sides. After he dealt with the summon, he'd make sure its summoner died horribly.

Kibi was hoping that after this was over it could blackmail its summoner to give it special meal for telling it to fight against a jinchuuriki. A vessel for one tailed bijuu he might be, but he was still a jinchuuriki while it was only a two tailed fox. It felt that its summoner should summon its superior instead of itself or he could at least summon more foxes. Still at least its summoner only told it to keep the red head busy for a moment instead of fighting him head on. That, it could still handle for speed was his specialization and it was the fastest of its group. As long as it dodged the sand, it would be okay.

Naruto, who had decided to forgo his usual black katana for two black wakizashi, was deflecting Kabuto's chakra scalpels when a wave of weapons forced him and his opponent to move from their spots. He was snorting inwardly when the Leaf spectators were cheering for Kabuto to beat him up, not realizing they were cheering a traitor. It was obvious that most of them further believed he was Kyuubi incarnate after he summoned the fox.

"You've got to be kidding me," he muttered when a raging Tenten sent a volley of kunais with explosion notes toward him. Kabuto used this opportunity to slip away. "Oh no, you don't!" he growled. Eyeing the flying kunais in annoyance he blew it away with a well placed "Fuuton: kamaitachi!" that also forced Tenten to defend herself in the air using a steel umbrella that she took out from a scroll. She was blown away by the heavy wind and effect of the notes from exploding in the air nearby, but her umbrella took the brunt, so she was alright although her sleeves and hair were singed.

Noticing Naruto turned his back toward her, she clenched her teeth and dashed as soon as her feet touched the ground. A two tailed fox breezed past her as it dodged a wave of sand and she stopped when she realized she entered another battlefield. The sand decided to finish her off too, so she was forced to let go Naruto at the moment. She cursed inwardly. She dodged the sand while trying to escape the battlefield to search Naruto, when—in a moment of inattention—sand crept to her right ankle and swung her body to the ground hard. She cried out in pain.

Wincing, she sent a kunai with an explosion note in it and blew the sand tentacle forcing the sand on her ankle to retreat. She stood up, but a sharp pain on her ankle told her that she had twisted it, decreasing her speed and chance to escape and defeat Naruto. She cursed her terrible luck. It seemed she would be unable to fight Naruto and instead would be forced to try to stay alive against Gaara.

"It seems Leaf have many exceptional ninjas this year," Kazekage commented from his seat.

"Sand also has exceptional ninjas too," Hokage replied with a polite smile.

"Ah, but there are only two ninjas from my village, while you have four," he complimented.

"Yes, but that's because Leaf has entered the most contestants," sandaime said humbly.

Polite conversation was always required in the world of politics.

"Hmm, I have never known that Leaf holds Fox summoning, especially after what happened 13 years ago."

Sandaime chucked. "I'm afraid it is a village's secret," he answered lightly. Inwardly he hoped Naruto realized the repercussion of his act to reveal his ability to summon fox to public.

"Why, yes of course. Forgive me for asking."

"It's alright. I'm sure many others are curious about it too," their bodyguards had to force themselves from snorting outloud

"Indeed," and the two leaders went back to watch the battle.

Meanwhile the rest of the genins and their teachers were observing the match.

"Wow, I don't know that Uzumaki have a summoning contract. And I don't know there is a fox summoning out there. Is that why many people, especially adults, seem to hate him?" Ino directed the last question to her teacher who was calmly seeping his cigarette.

Before he could answer Shikamaru cut off, "Riiight, and it must be such a common knowledge that even the villagers know that Naruto has a fox contract," he muttered sarcastically. "If you observe carefully, you'll notice they are shocked when they saw Naruto summoned the fox. Although I have to admit, they looked angrier than usual after it happened," he cried out when Ino pummeled his head.

"Don't take that tone with me," she hissed. "Oh, Sasuke-kun hit that Sand puppeteer!" she cheered loudly, completely forgetting about her earlier rage toward her teammate.

"Woman, so troublesome," Shikamaru moaned, as he nursed the bump on his head. On his left, Chouji nodded as he munched his chips. Asuma shook his head in amusement. Inside he was worried though. Naruto seemed careless, giving hints of S class secrets (even if the secret was related to him) out like that. Not to mention Jiraiya blurted out the secret that he was yondaime's son. At this rate there was no way to tell how many other secrets would come out.

"Tenten, you can do it!" Lee cheered from his stand.

"What do you think her odds against Gaara, Gai-sensei?" a frowning Neji asked the bowl cut haired sensei.

Gai looked serious that moment. "Hmm…not good. It seemed she had twisted her ankle. It will be difficult for her to dodge continuously," then he brightened suddenly. "But don't worry, Neji, she'll overcome her trial with her burning youth!" he slapped his student's back hard, causing Neji to wince in pain.

"Is it just me, or is it true that that Kabuto guy seems to target Sasuke, Naruto targets that four eyed guy, and the weapon chick targets Naruto, and that creepy red head targets Naruto too, but doesn't mind crushing others while he's at it?" Kiba scratched his head.

"…It's not just you," Kiba was startled for he didn't think Shino would answer his question.

"Oh," he could only offer that. Hinata was fiddling with her fingers nervously, seeming to be lost in thought. She remembered the blank look on her father's face that she had known as disappointment when he knew she didn't even pass her second exam. She beat her urge to cry out in shame. She had already done so on her room a month ago.

"Are you okay, Hinata?" she was startled when she heard Kiba called her.

"Y-yes, I am, Kiba-kun."

"…If you say so," the dog boy didn't seem convinced though. He turned back his attention to the battle royale.

Tenten thought she would die when her balance was offset and she wouldn't be able to dodge the sand coming to get her, when a blue haze of fire intercepted the sand and turned it into glass. She was relieved but quickly quench that thought when anger flooded her brain. It was the two tailed fox summoned by Naruto who had saved her.

She glared at the fox angrily.

The fox stared at her lazily and would have raised its eyebrows, if it didn't have to dodge the sand below it. Apparently Gaara decided to convert the land around him to become sand using his chakra since his own sand was turned into glass. It sapped his chakra at faster rate than using his own sand that was already saturated by his chakra and the blood of people he had killed though, which was exactly one of Naruto's goals to use his summon.

Realizing that his tactic wouldn't work, Gaara growled low and decided to use his trump card. He compressed his sand around him into a ball and decided to undergo the stages to transform into Shukaku. He didn't care about what the ninjas of his village thought. What he wanted was to crush this annoying animal and everything else.

Kankurou was paralyzed in fear when he recognized what his little brother was doing and prayed inwardly he wouldn't get involved, which was seemingly unlikely. He didn't notice Sasuke snuck behind him and knocked him out of the battle. His doll crumpled to the ground as its master lost his consciousness.

"Stupid. He should know not to avert his attention from his opponent," Sasuke rolled his eyes. Now he was wondering who should be his next opponent. He turned to Gaara-Tenten-Naruto's fox summon match and saw that the kunoichi was having difficulty fighting off the wave of sand even though Gaara didn't move from his spot and was covered inside a ball of sand. His defense most likely. The fox didn't seem to have trouble dodging the sand and continued with its assault. His eyes narrowed when he saw the sand turned into glass. Obviously the fire the fox let out was very hot or the sand wouldn't change. Hotter than his fire at any rate. Inwardly he grumbled at the thought.

The black haired ninja then turned to see Naruto-Kabuto match. The burning wakizashi on Naruto's hands obviously didn't agree with Kabuto if the burns on his body were any indication. The four eyed guy was busy fending off Naruto's fury attacks. Naruto also had several cuts on his body but it was healing at a rate he had never seen before. Infact…Kabuto was healing at fast rate too, though it seemed slower than Naruto and he got more wounds than he could inflict to his blonde opponent.

Sasuke watched the grin in Naruto's face widen when he managed to cut Kabuto's hair tie and some of his hair.

Nope…he'd rather fight Gaara. Coming between Naruto and Kabuto right now would only land him in the land of pain from any prank imaginable.

With that he ran toward the sand ball as he made seals to create the famed chidori.

The vessel of Kyuubi had felt the built up of demonic chakra coming from the red haired Sand ninja, but decided to deal with him later. Still he realized that he had to move his timetable and defeated Kabuto faster. Kibi wouldn't be able to deal with Gaara any much longer if the boy turned into Shukaku.

Kabuto ducked to avoid the fire blade that coming off from the blonde's wakizashi. The tips of his bang were singed.

"You're not too bad," he said to the panting boy whose glass was cracked and his hair undone. Most of his chakra was used to fasten the speed of his healing to heal his burns. It was unfortunate for Kabuto to be a short ranged fighter. He had to get close to Naruto and his fire to attack. If he was a long ranged or even middle ranged fighter, his chance to dodge Naruto's burning flame would be higher.

Knowing his disadvantage, Kabuto decided to retreat for a moment. He entered Gaara's attack zone. He'd rather take his chance here. He might have to fend off Gaara's sand, but Naruto had to do the same if he chased him and he knew that the jinchuuriki of One Tail was interested with the blond. Gaara would be able to divert Naruto's attention from him so he could finish his job. He flicked off his offending hair from obstructing his sight although his cracked glasses didn't help any. Perhaps he should get a hair cut after this or he should get metal hair tie to avoid things like this from happening again.

Kabuto changed his weapon to that of senbons coated with poisons. He didn't have time to exchange his weapon because of Naruto.

True to his theory, half of Gaara's sand turned to Naruto who seemed rather annoyed by the turn of event. His fox summon seemed rather intent to defend its summoner though as it fought harder. What he didn't expect was for Tenten to change her priority from staying alive to attack Naruto. It was a welcoming gesture for him though.

"Soshuryuu!"…or perhaps not. The girl had released a 'bunch' of weapons against the blonde nin from her scrolls. Unfortunately it was an area attack and Kabuto got himself involved involuntarily. The medic nin grumbled in irritation. The invasion had turned out harder than what he planned. If only Orochimaru had succeeded planting cursed seal on Sasuke before, he wouldn't get involved like this. He barely avoided a sickle from screwing his face, but it had managed to break his glasses completely. A piece of glass scratched his cheek and created a bleeding cut that was immediately healed by his regenerative ability. At least it wasn't a burn. That would be harder to heal than a simple cut.

He heard a screeching noise that irritated his ears and found himself watching Sasuke with a crackling lightning on his palm, racing toward the huge sand ball that held Gaara inside.

Now was his chance.

He saw his blonde opponent knocked out the brunette kunoichi with a chop of her temple from the corner of his eyes and _that_ rushed him faster. The fox turned its attention to him. Bad news. He had to rely on his instinct and ability to feel chakra to locate where Sasuke was for his sight was blurry, after he got his glasses blown away.

He flicked his fingers to send the poisoned needles against the fox, not slowing down in the process. The fox was forced to dodge them, slowing it down. His hand grabbed the syringe he had prepared, while dodging the sand attempt to crush his body.

Sasuke's chidori plunged into the ball of sand with a sickening crunch. And when he tried to pry his hand away from the sand with difficulty.

"It hurts. Mother!" there was an unholy scream coming off from inside.

Sasuke felt like something had gone from bad to worse.

How right he was.

He barely turned around when he felt a flicker of chakra before he felt something sharp was jabbed into his neck and everything went dark.

Kabuto had just injected a forth of the liquid inside the syringe when a firm hand caught his wrist and wrenched the syringe out of the neck away forcefully. The hand tightened its hold and broke his wrist, causing him to drop the syringe. Kabuto only had a moment to turn around to see a pair of raging red blood eyes before he felt the dropped syringe he intended for Sasuke was being used against him. His mouth let out a silent scream, as the rest of the liquid was introduced to his blood stream.

Naruto released Kabuto's body to the ground and caught Sasuke's and slung him on his shoulder like he was a sack of potato, before he jumped high to avoid the lashing sand from the screaming jinchuuriki below him. He saw his fox carried away Tenten's unconscious body.

"Aw man, you've got to be shitting me!" he winced when he saw Kabuto's body was batted away like a rag doll by the lashing tentacle of sand into the arena wall where he heard the sound of his ribs cracking. That seemed hurt.

The Sand jinchuuriki had gone out of control.

Kabuto injected something to Sasuke.

He himself injected _that_ something to Kabuto.

And Sasuke was moaning restlessly even in his sleep.

He didn't think Sandaime would be pleased, both for what happened to Sasuke and Kabuto who should be captured alive and coherent.

Could anything go worse?

Of course he should stop jinxing himself because apparently the Sand and Sound ninjas took that as a sign to start the invasion.

Naruto cursed his luck.

**TBC…**

Shorter than last chapter, but who cares? Obviously not me.

I'm not too happy with how this chapter turns out, but won't be bothered to redo it. Too lazy to do that. At least I actually update something.

If you think that Kabuto goes down too quickly, you'll just have to realize that he's at disadvantage against this Naruto. It's rather difficult to get close to him when Naruto has his flame around. Kabuto isn't prepared to fight someone with a higher regenerative ability than his. That's not to say he won't be able to defeat Naruto ever or make his life more difficult. If anything you know how crafty and cunning he can be. However I'm not saying that he'll fight Naruto again. Don't know what will happen next.

In the end Naruto only used his summon, speed, a futon jutsu, his two wakizashi and his flame in this fight. I had planned to have him use rasengan, but decided against it.

Next chap: the invasion. I just want to say that, again, it will be somewhat different from canon. You'll just have to see what the difference is later.


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